Yuri Valentinovich Trifonov is one of the most famous Soviet writers, whose work is still of interest to the reader. This article will be devoted, perhaps, to his most famous creation - the story "Exchange". Trifonov, a brief summary of this will confirm, was able to display in it, and very realistically, the complexities of family relationships, problems of understanding and the anguish that a person experiences when making a decision under the pressure of loved ones.
About the work
What is so unique about the story "Exchange" (Trifonov), the summary of which we are considering? The work was written in 1969 - this time in literature is characterized by the birth and flourishing of "urban" prose. Writers who worked in this genre addressed the moral problems of everyday life of ordinary people.
It was Trifonov who achieved the highest success in "urban" prose. And his story "The Exchange" became the best example of this genre and laid the foundation for a whole cycle of such works.
"Exchange" (Trifonov): a summary
The events of the story unfold in the hero of the work - a thirty-year-old engineer Viktor Grigorievich Dmitriev. His mother, Ksenia Feodorovna, has cancer, but she is convinced that she is suffering from an ulcer. She is operated on and sent home, her fate sealed. But Ksenia Fedorovna herself is sure that she is on the mend.
Interpreter and Victor's wife, right after. when his mother was discharged, he decides that he should move in with his mother-in-law. Otherwise, you can lose the room, which after it will remain on Profsoyuznaya Street. And this requires an exchange, and she has already managed to find a good option.
Complicated Relationships
You can safely call the story "Exchange" a household drama. Trifonov, the summary illustrates this perfectly, tells a story that is understandable to everyone, because it is based on everyday relationships. The writer talks about simple things that put many of us in front of a difficult choice.
Even when the young Elena and Victor began to live together, Ksenia Fedorovna wanted to settle with them and with Natasha, her granddaughter. But the relationship between her and her daughter-in-law was getting worse, so the thought of moving had to be discarded.
But as soon as the mother-in-law was near death, Lena herself began to constantly talk to her husband about the exchange and moving. Victor does not like this idea, because the mother can guess what is the reason for everything that is happening. But gradually he begins to yield to his wife: in her words, he sees concern for their well-being, for Natasha's future. And if you think about it, suddenly the mother will get better, and then she will only get better - a dream will come true. As a result, Dmitriev comes to the conclusion that Lena was right from the very beginning and in vain he attacked her.
Tatiana
Heroes, in which it is easy to recognize yourself, your friends and neighbors, are created by Trifonov. “Exchange” (a brief summary of the story helps to judge this) is a work about how everyday circumstances can shake the moral foundations and ideas of a person about good and bad.
So, Victor himself becomes the initiator of the exchange, but at the same time he is convinced that he is not trying for himself. Due to his mother's illness, he has to cancel a business trip. Meanwhile, Victor needs money - a lot of money was spent on treatment. He doesn't know who to turn to for help. However, he is lucky, the money is offered by Tanya, his colleague and former lover.
Rich not only in realistic characters, but also in life situations, Trifonov's story "Exchange". The summary tells the story of Tatyana and Viktor's failed romance, because of which the heroine's marriage broke up, and she was left alone with her son. At the same time, the woman still loves Dmitriev, knowing full well that she has no hope for reciprocal feelings. Victor himself believes that Tatyana could become a better wife than Elena.
Tanya helps Victor, introduces him to a man who understands exchange business, from whom the hero receives the broker's telephone number. In the evening, after work, Tatyana and Victor go home to the woman for the promised money. Tanya is already glad that she can be close to her loved one. Dmitriev feels this, even wants to stay, but he urgently needs to go to the dacha in Pavlinovo, where his mother is waiting.
Country house
The situation arouses interest and empathy in the reader, which Trifonov describes (“Exchange”). The brief content presented here is an extra proof of this. Many wonderful childhood memories are associated with Dmitriev's dacha. Let's start with the fact that the house was built by his father, who all his life dreamed of quitting his job as an engineer and sitting down to write humorous stories. This good man was unlucky all his life, and death came to him early. Victor himself practically did not remember him.
But he remembered well his grandfather, Fyodor Nikolaevich, an old revolutionary and lawyer. He was absent for a long time, and when he returned to Moscow, he lived in a dacha until he received a room.
Dmitriev and Lukyanov
The Lukyanovs have always been distinguished by the fact that they could adapt to any situation and cook up any business, for them it was equally easy to solve the problem of repairs in the country and the placement of a granddaughter in an English elite school. The author characterizes their breed as “able to live”. When the Dmitrievs reached a dead end and concluded that nothing more could be done, the Lukyanovs instantly solved problems in their own ways known only to them.
In these comparisons of the lifestyles of different families, very familiar Yuri Trifonov portrays. "Exchange", the summary of which we analyze in detail, illustrates the two most common, but mutually exclusive, ways of behavior. That is why the Dmitrievs, and mainly Ksenia Fedorovna, who has certain moral principles and is accustomed to helping disinterestedly, treated the achievements of the Lukyanovs with an arrogant and dismissive grin. In their view, the Lukyanovs are deprived of lofty interests and petty bourgeois, who care only about their own good. The Dmitrievs even came up with the word “to be lukewarm”.
He places the accents very clearly and openly shows his preferences between these two Trifon families. The story "Exchange", a summary gives many examples, tells how a person can degrade morally, following his desires. Thus, the reader sees how Victor is gradually "disguising" himself, becoming more and more a tradesman. This was especially acute in an attempt to help a former comrade find a job. Lena managed to find a good place, but she reasoned that her husband needed it more. So Victor got a new position, and his friend was left with nothing.
Solution of the problem
Ksenia Feodorovna's condition either worsens or gets better. After waiting for the next rise, Victor decides to talk to his mother. Here, the reader is presented with a person who cares about his well-being and is completely indifferent to the comfort of a sick mother. Victor finally "got mad" - Y. Trifonov makes it clear. The exchange (the summary gradually leads to the solution of this issue) must be completed, Dmitriev believes. But the mother sees what happened to her son, refuses the exchange and says that he made his exchange a long time ago - he changed his conscience for convenience.
The next morning, Victor leaves, and two days later his mother calls and says that she agrees to the exchange. They come together, Ksenia Fedorovna soon dies. After the death of his mother, Victor strongly surrenders, grows old, turns gray. And on the site of their former dacha, a new stadium and a hotel are being built.
Conclusion
A completely everyday and simple situation is drawn by Yuri Trifonov (“Exchange”). The summary fully conveys the theme of this simple story, which lies in the moral fall of man.
The story "Exchange" by Trifonov was written and published in 1969 in the "New World". This is a story about the confrontation between two families who can not come to a compromise in their relationship. In his work, the author touches upon important social problems that remain relevant to this day.
Main characters
Victor Dmitriev- a man of 37 years old, kind, loving, but completely weak-willed.
Elena Dmitrieva (Lukyanova)- Victor's wife, persistent, ambitious, grasping woman, translator.
Xenia Fedorovna- Victor's mother, a kind, sympathetic woman, a bibliographer.
Other characters
Natasha- daughter of Victor and Elena, sixth grader.
Vera Lazarevna- Elena's mother.
Tanya- Victor's colleague, his former mistress.
When Ksenia Fedorovna, the mother of Viktor Dmitriev, felt unwell, she had to go to the hospital for examination. As a result, the woman was diagnosed with cancer, but she was told that peptic ulcer caused the malaise. After the operation, Ksenia Fedorovna “felt improvement, soon began to walk”, and after a couple of months she returned home, in full confidence that she was “on the mend”.
It was at this moment that Dmitriev's wife, Lena, decided to make an exchange and move in with her mother-in-law, who lived in a spacious room. Victor started talking about the exchange much earlier, when there was no “ossified and lasting enmity” between mother and wife, but Lena always refused.
At one time, Dmitriev persistently tried to reconcile two people dear to his heart, but he did not succeed. He sincerely did not understand why "two intelligent, respected women" did not want to go for rapprochement. Even the birth of Natasha's daughter did not help the reign of peace in the family.
Lena tackled the exchange with all the determination she could muster. With some spiritual callousness, she had the strongest quality - "the ability to achieve her own." At first, Victor was indignant at his wife's tactlessness, but after that he began to justify her. After all, she tried not for herself, but for the sake of the future of the whole family, Natasha's comfortable life. In addition, there have been cases of recovery from a terrible disease, and it is quite possible that life with children and a beloved granddaughter will benefit the mother ...
Victor's relationship with his wife was not bad, but his mother-in-law brought her fly in the ointment. Living in the neighborhood, she considered it her duty to appear every day at the Dmitrievs under the pretext of helping, but in fact, in order to "shamelessly interfere in someone else's life."
At work, due to the illness of his mother, Victor had to abandon a long-planned business trip to Siberia. All his thoughts were occupied with where to get money for the upcoming exchange of housing. It would be possible to borrow from the mother-in-law, "but that already meant - to roll."
Upon learning that Victor needed money, his employee Tanya, who had been his mistress in the past, offered her help. A few years ago they were close, but after the connection broke. The young woman's marriage broke up, and Dmitriev lived as before, although he understood that Tanya "would be his best wife."
At Victor's request, Tatyana brought him to a colleague who already had exchange experience, and he gave the broker's phone number. After work, they went to Tatyana's house so that she could transfer the money. Victor feels sorry for his former mistress, who was still in love with him, while he no longer felt anything.
With the dacha in Pavlinovo, where now there were mother and sister Laura, Victor had the warmest memories. The dacha was built by my father, a railway engineer who always dreamed of giving up everything and "taking up writing humorous stories". Father "died early, did not have time to do anything." Much Dmitriev remembered his grandfather - an old revolutionary, a lawyer who lived in the country after returning from the camps.
Having got off at the right stop, Victor imagined with horror how difficult it would be for him to talk about the exchange with his mother and Laura. The sister will certainly understand who is the true initiator of the exchange, because she is "cunning, perspicacious and does not like Lena very much." Laura never understood how one could not love their mother, who all her life helped everyone in every way she could - "with shelter, advice, sympathy." Therefore, she never came to terms with the choice of her brother.
Lena's parents - the Lukyanov couple - were treated with "distrust of everyone and everyone." These were people who possessed an amazing ability to deftly arrange their affairs and adapt perfectly to any conditions of life. All the problems that seemed insurmountable to the Dmitriev family, the Lukyanovs solved quickly and easily, as if playfully.
The Dmitrievs, in turn, treated the Lukyanovs with some contempt. They considered them opportunists and philistines, devoid of any high interests. Those close to Victor believed that he had completely fallen under the influence of his wife, and therefore became a cut off chunk for them.
When Victor finally decided to enter the house, he learned that his mother was getting worse. Having learned about the Dmitrievs' plans regarding the exchange, Laura spoke out strongly against him - “at first everything will be nice, noble, and then irritation will begin”, they are too different people.
Reluctantly, Victor offered his mother the option of an exchange, but she, much to his surprise, refused. Ksenia Fedorovna admitted that she used to really want to live with her son and granddaughter, but now she doesn’t. According to her, "the exchange took place", and a very long time ago, alluding to Victor's complete submission to Elena.
Three days later, Ksenia Fedorovna called her son at work and said that she "agreed to come, she only asked to hurry up." After a long red tape, the issue of the exchange was successfully resolved, and after some time Ksenia Fedorovna died.
After the death of his mother, Victor "became a hypertensive crisis", he noticeably aged, flabby. The dachas in Pavlinovo were demolished and "the Burevestnik stadium and a hotel for athletes" were built in their place.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that the work describes everyday family history, the author managed to fully reveal the moral problems that are typical for many families: spiritual callousness, indifference to loved ones, weakness of character, greed.
A brief retelling of "Exchange" will be useful both for the reader's diary and when doing homework in literature.
Story test
Check the memorization of the summary with the test:
Retelling rating
Average rating: 4.5. Total ratings received: 194.
The story of Yuri Trifonov "Exchange" tells us an episode from the life of engineer Viktor Dmitriev. He lives in a Moscow apartment with his wife Lena. Dmitry's mother, Ksenia Fedorovna, becomes seriously ill, she is diagnosed with a cancerous tumor.
She underwent surgery, but there is little hope of success. However, Ksenia Fedorovna was not very worried about this - she considered that she had an ulcer, felt better and was sure of a speedy recovery. When the mother was discharged, Viktor's wife firmly decided to make an exchange with some Markushevichs, and the family to go live with her mother-in-law. Thus begins the internal conflict of the protagonist.
The exchange is completed, but this does not bring happiness to the protagonist. Being in mental turmoil, he recalls his childhood, youth and the gradual disintegration of relations in the family.
The story teaches that selfishness, under the influence of life's difficulties, reduces life to a dramatic existence.
Read the summary of Trifonov's Exchange
Victor guessed that Lena came up with a real estate exchange only out of cold-blooded calculation, because the relationship between mother and wife had not been smooth for a long time - they gradually grew into a ossified enmity. Once, however, they really wanted to live together, but since then everything has changed dramatically. There was an insurmountable obstacle between two intelligent, respected women, and Victor felt helplessly trapped in a series of stupid, endless conflicts. He is outraged by his wife - after all, it is impossible to talk tactlessly about profit when the mother dies. However, he reassures himself - after all, the wife is thinking about the future well-being of Natasha's daughter, and if the mother's illness is not so terrible, then everything will turn out as well as possible.
Victor still agrees with his wife. At work, he is offered a business trip, but he is forced to refuse due to the illness of Ksenia Fedorovna. Dmitriev is looking for funds, since the treatment was not cheap. Employee Tanya helps Victor find the phone number of a trusted broker. She was his mistress, and is happy just to be around, although she knows that nothing will ever happen between them again. Dmitriev feels sympathy for Tanya, but he needs to hurry to the dacha, to his sister and mother.
This dacha in Pavlinovo was built long ago by his father Georgy Alekseevich, a railway engineer. Dmitriev remembers him fragmentarily, only his appearance and disposition - a dark mustache and beard, glasses, and everywhere he carried a notebook with him, where he wrote down humorous stories of his own composition. He considered this to be his true calling. He helped starving relatives, reproached narrow-minded brothers for fussiness and greed. My father was a very good man, he died early and lived an unfortunate life.
Victor remembered better his grandfather, an old revolutionary who did not understand modern morals and was wary of the parents of Victor's wife, the Lukyanov family. One day my grandfather said that no one should be treated with contempt. The grandson perfectly remembered this phrase addressed to him and his mother.
The Lukyanovs were extremely practical people who knew how to "break through" in life, not always taking into account moral principles. Dmitriev's relatives invariably accused them of philistinism, "opportunism." Lena was a very stubborn woman who was used to going ahead to the goal. For some time she persuaded her husband to defend his dissertation, but he failed, and Lena resigned herself. Victor loved his wife and defended her from reproaches, although he cursed with her from time to time. His sister and mother condemned him, considering him "perverted". The main reason for this was the story that happened to Dmitriev's former comrade Levka Bubrik. Dmitriev has been friends with Lyova since childhood, the guys also spent their college years together. For three years Lyova worked in the fields in Bashkiria. After that, Bubrik began to look for work in Moscow, and looked after a position at the Institute of Oil and Gas Equipment. Lena seemed to feel sorry for Lyova, and asked her father to put in a word. But it all ended with the fact that Dmitriev ended up in the coveted Left place, definitely not without the conspiracy of the spouses, because this work was much more profitable than the previous one. Then there was a big scandal.
Upon arrival at the dacha, an unpleasant conversation takes place between the main characters and sister Laura. Laura cannot even imagine that her mother will get along with Lena. Then Dmitriev decides to have a fateful conversation with Ksenia Fedorovna. The woman categorically refuses the idea of exchange.
At night, Victor notices his old drawing. Previously, he was extremely fond of drawing. At that young time, he could not pass the exam, and in desperation he entered the first random institute. After being a student, he no longer had time for romance - Lena and little Natasha were nearby, and his wife refused to tempt fate, preferring a measured life in Moscow.
In the morning Dmitriev gave the money to his sister and left. But two days later, having calmed down and thought everything over carefully, Ksenia Fedorovna called. She agreed to host her son's family, only asked that they move as soon as possible. The exchange is finally happening. After some time, the symptoms of her illness intensify. Dmitriev's mother dies, and he takes it extremely hard - a hypertensive crisis occurs. Victor has aged noticeably, and his father's dacha is being demolished for the construction of a stadium.
Picture or drawing Trifonov - Exchange
Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary
- Summary Remarque Arc de Triomphe
The action of the novel takes place during the Second World War, in France. The main character is the escaped German surgeon Ravik, who went through the First World War and secretly, without any documents and permission, lives in France
Two children - a boy and a girl, who were brother and sister, did not want to go to school and decided to go to a shady grove. They decided that it was there that they would be much better and cooler than in a stuffy classroom.
operations sent her home. The outcome is clear, but she alone believes that deld is on the mend. Immediately after her discharge from the hospital, Dmitriev's wife Lena, an English translator, decides to urgently move in with her mother-in-law so as not to lose a good room on Profsoyuznaya Street. We need an exchange, there is even one option in mind.
Tells her husband about the need for an exchange. Dmitriev is indignant: at such a moment to offer this to his mother, who can guess what's the matter! Nevertheless, he gradually yields to his wife: after all, she is fussing about the family, about the future of Natasha's daughter. In addition, on reflection, Dmitriev begins to reassure himself: maybe not everything is so irrevocable with his mother’s illness, which means that the fact that they will come together will only be a boon for her, for her well-being - after all, her dream will come true. So Lena, Dmitriev concludes, is wise as a woman, and in vain he immediately attacked her.
Puzzling over who to borrow. But it seems that the day is going well for him: the employee Tanya, his former lover, offers money with her usual sensitivity. A few years ago they were close, as a result, Tanya's marriage broke up, she was left alone with her son and continues to love Dmitriev, although she understands that this love is hopeless. In turn, Dmitriev thinks that Tanya would be a better wife for him than Lena. Tanya, at his request, brings Dmitriev together with a colleague with experience in exchange affairs, who does not say anything concrete, but gives the broker's phone number. After work, Dmitriev and Tanya take a taxi and go to her house for money. Tanya is happy to be alone with Dmitriev, to help him in some way. Dmitriev is sincerely sorry for her; perhaps he would have stayed longer with her, but he needed to hurry to his mother's dacha, in Pavlinovo.
Dmitriev has fond childhood memories of this dacha, owned by the Krasny Partisan cooperative. The house was built by his father, a railway engineer who dreamed all his life of leaving his job to write humorous stories. A good man, he was not lucky and died early. Dmitriev remembers him fragmentarily. He remembers better his grandfather, a lawyer, an old revolutionary who returned to Moscow after a long absence (apparently after the camps) and lived for some time in the country until they gave him a room. He did not understand anything in modern life. He also gazed with curiosity at the Lukyanovs, the parents of Dmitriev's wife, who were then also visiting Pavlinovo in the summer. Once on a walk, my grandfather, referring to the Lukyanovs, said that there was no need to despise anyone. These words, clearly addressed to Dmitriev's mother, who often showed intolerance, and to himself, were well remembered by his grandson.
The Lukyanovs differed from the Dmitrievs in their adaptability to life, the ability to deftly arrange any business, whether it was repairing a summer house or placing a granddaughter in an elite English school. They are from the breed of "knowing how to live." What seemed insurmountable to the Dmitrievs, the Lukyanovs solved quickly and simply, only by the only way they knew. This was an enviable property, but such practicality caused the Dmitrievs, especially Ksenia Fedorovna, who was used to selflessly helping others, women with strong moral principles, and Victor Laura's sister, an arrogant smile. For them, the Lukyanovs are philistines who care only about personal well-being and are deprived of high interests. The family even had the word "to lukyanitsya". They are characterized by a kind of spiritual flaw, manifested in tactlessness in relation to others. So, for example, Lena hung the portrait of Father Dmitriev from the middle room to the entrance just because she needed a nail for the wall clock. She took all the best cups of Laura and Xenia Feodorovna. Dmitriev loves Lena and always defended her from the attacks of her sister and mother, but he also quarreled with her because of them.
To Moscow from Bashkiria, where he was distributed after the institute, and for a long time remained without work. He looked for a place at the Institute of Oil and Gas Equipment and really wanted to get a job there. At the request of Lena, who felt sorry for Levka and his wife, her father Ivan Vasilyevich was busy with this matter. However, instead of Bubrik, Dmitriev ended up in this place, because it was better than his previous job. Everything was done again under the wise guidance of Lena, but, of course, with the consent of Dmitriev himself. There was a scandal. However, Lena, protecting her husband from his principled and highly moral relatives, took all the blame.
Next to Lena, even if she tries hard at first. They are too different people. Ksenia Fedorovna, just on the eve of her son's arrival, was ill, then she gets better, and Dmitriev, without delay, starts a decisive conversation. Yes, the mother agrees, she used to want to live with him, but now she doesn't. The exchange took place, and long ago, she says, referring to Dmitriev's moral capitulation.
Overnight at the dacha, Dmitriev sees his old watercolor drawing on the wall. Once he was fond of painting, did not part with the album. But, having failed in the exam, with grief he rushed to another, the first institute he came across. After graduation, he did not look for romance, like others, he did not go anywhere, he remained in Moscow. Then Lena and her daughter were already there, and the wife said: where is he from them? He is late. His train has left.
In the morning Dmitriev leaves, leaving Laura money. Two days later, the mother calls and says that she agrees to come. When he finally gets along with the exchange, Xenia Fedorovna becomes even better. However, soon the disease worsens again. After the death of his mother, Dmitriev suffers from a hypertensive crisis. He immediately passed, turned gray, aged. And the Dmitrievskaya dacha in Pavlinovo was later demolished, like others, and the Burevestnik stadium and a hotel for athletes were built there.
Dmitriev Viktor Georgievich - the main character of the story, a thirty-seven-year-old employee of the research institute, a hereditary Muscovite and an intellectual. His mother fell mortally ill, and his wife, who openly did not love her mother-in-law before, suddenly suggested that her husband urgently exchange their apartments for one large one and settle with her mother, that is, use her imminent death to increase their living space. Offended by his wife’s spiritual deafness, D. nevertheless begins to act - he consults with experienced people, dutifully endures the squeamish attitude towards himself of those around him, and most importantly, he goes to his sick mother for negotiations, realizing that this is finishing off his mother - she still does not know everything about his illness and hope for a recovery.
Active life is over - he is "led" by his wife. In his youth, he dreamed of becoming an artist and had reason to do so, but after failing the entrance exams to the art institute, he went to the technical institute in desperation. After graduating from the institute, he could go on an interesting job distribution - D. “offered various tempting odysseys,” but by this time a daughter had already been born and it was necessary to take care of the family. "It's too late," his wife told him, and D. inwardly agrees with her. Works in research institute connected with geology. Attempts to write (under the joint pressure of mother and wife) a dissertation ended in failure - there was not enough efficiency and ambition. But D., with the help of his wife, occupies a very profitable position in the research institute, intended for his friend.
To reconcile the wife with the mother remain ineffectual. Nevertheless, the definition of D. as a "traitor", belonging to D.'s sister, looks uncontroversial, superficial. D. well feels in his relatives the degeneration of the intelligentsia code of conduct into rhetoric moving away from real life, the transformation of intelligence into a kind of caste consciousness, in which his family is defined as "petty-bourgeois".
D. perceives the discord between his wife and his relatives as a confrontation between realists and idealists. D. loves his wife, acutely feeling in her the charm and power of real life. Realizing the moral costs in life attitudes, D. justifies it: who is to blame for the fact that life is the way it is, and not the way we would like to see it. D. does not resist his inner rapprochement with his wife and her family: “It is not so bad to intermarry with people of a strange breed. Inject fresh blood. Take advantage of someone else's skill. Those who do not know how to live with a long joint life-being begin to burden each other a little -: just this noble inability of theirs, which they are proud of. The "ability to live" of his wife and her relatives delights and frightens him. Having renounced the intellectual caste consciousness, D. nevertheless feels helpless in his relations with life; he is spiritually flabby, indecisive, becoming more and more a consumer of his wife's ability to live. He is the same in his relationship with Tanya, who was his mistress for a short time and continues to love him. D. comes up with the idea that Tanya would be the best wife for him, but D. is not able to take a decisive step. There is some consumerism in his relationship with Tanya - he uses her sympathy, sincere understanding, help, but he himself is not able to give her anything. Yes, it doesn't really bother him.
At the end of the story, after the death of his mother and the “successful” completion of the hassle with the exchange, D. “somehow immediately gave up, turned gray. Not yet an old man, but already elderly, with limp cheeks uncle.
Of these, those who were engaged in revolutionary affairs in their youth, sat in a fortress, exiled, fled abroad, worked in Switzerland, in Belgium, knew Vera Zasulich, and completely counted once or twice. D. was “small, shrunken, with bluish-copper tanned skin on his face, with clumsy, disfigured hard work, stiff hands, he always dressed neatly, wore shirts with a tie ...”. (The text says" that by the mid-fifties "Dmitriev had not seen his grandfather for many years", that he "recently returned to Moscow, was very sick and needed rest" - from these details, an experienced reader of the early seventies calculates that the grandfather went through camps.) He believes that “there is nothing more stupid than to look for ideals in the past. With interest, he only looks ahead, but, unfortunately, he will see little. He lives one summer at the Dmitrievs' dacha, observes the beginning of the married life of Dmitriev and Lena, the first disputes between the family clans of the Lukyanovs and Dmitrievs, without clearly supporting either side. D. is the first to point out to Dmitriev the nobility, the tactlessness of his wife and mother-in-law, mockingly perceives their "ability to live." And at the same time, in a dispute with Ksenia Fedorovna, he is categorical in denying the right of an intelligent person to contempt. The only member of the Dmitriev family whom Lena treated with respect.
Dmitrieva Ksenia Fedorovna - Dmitriev's mother, works as "senior bibliographer of one large academic library." Kind, disinterested, delicate, trying to follow the old intellectual norms of behavior in everything. “... Mother is constantly surrounded by people in whose fate she takes part. Some elderly half-familiar people live in her room for a long time ... casual friends from rest homes who want to get to Moscow doctors, or provincial girls and boys, children of distant relatives who have come to enter institutes. The mother tries to help everyone completely disinterestedly ... Perhaps, more precisely, she loves to help in such a way that, God forbid, no self-interest comes out. But this was the self-interest: doing good deeds, all the time to be aware of yourself as a good person. From the very first meeting with Lena, he feels in her a stranger to himself and helplessly warns his son. In further relationships with Lena, as a rule, he is inferior to her. But it can also be “granite” when issues of morality are discussed in the family. Hearing from his father the phrase that it is foolish to despise anyone, he objects: "If we give up contempt, we will deprive ourselves of the last weapon." In the story, she owns the wording of what happened to her son in family life: “You have already exchanged, Vitya. The exchange took place ... ”(that is,“ he went crazy ”- in the terminology of Dmitriev’s sister). Having fallen ill, at first she does not realize the seriousness of what is happening, she hopes for a recovery, but after talking with her son, who offered her to come, she quickly understands what is the matter and agrees.
Special textbook on translation. Her main feature is the ability to achieve her own: “she bit into her desires like a bulldog. Such a pretty female bulldog with a short straw-colored haircut and always a pleasantly tanned, slightly swarthy face. She did not let go until the desires - right in her teeth - turned into flesh. Great property! Beautiful, amazing, decisive for life. Property of real men. Decisive, proactive, has a strong character, easily finds a common language with different people, especially with the right ones. The story emphasizes her purely feminine attraction for Dmitriev, her heightened taste for life. She takes care of her family, her husband, understanding his good in her own way. Sometimes he catches and embodies those desires of Dmitriev, which he himself does not know about. The reverse side of these qualities is moral promiscuity in means. Can be tactless and arrogant. Her husband accuses her of "underdevelopment of feelings", the presence of "subhuman". Arranging, at the request of Dmitriev's relatives, his friend Levka Bubrik for an interesting and profitable job, L. at the last moment decides that this position is more suitable for her husband, and arranges Dmitriev for this place. At the same time, the indignation of Dmitriev’s relatives and friends takes over: “I’m to blame, I’m the only one, don’t blame Vitka!” Perceptive, well sees the funny and ridiculous features of others. In a clash with the Dmitriev family, who frankly do not like her, she defends herself with the concept of "prudence", mocks the swindle and rhetoric of their code of conduct, acutely feeling her superiority over Dmitriev's sister and mother in the ability to live a real life. He feels hurt by the contemptuous attitude of his mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Justifies his actions by the fact that he is trying for the good of the family and almost sacrifices himself. Everyone condemns her, although the husband fully enjoys the fruits of achievements.
Laura (Dmitrieva Lora Georgievna) - Dmitriev's sister. An archaeologist by profession. For months he will disappear with her husband Felix on expeditions. "Black hair with gray hair ... tanned forehead - the annual five months in Central Asia made her almost Uzbek." Not too happy in her personal life, she says about her husband, with whom she had a sluggish, joyless romance for years, that he is extremely tactless. The most categorical guardian of the "intelligent" traditions of the Dmitriev family. Lena's main enemy in their family. “Laura never learned to look a little deeper than what is on the surface. Her thoughts never bend ... How can one not understand that people are not loved not for their vices, but they are not loved for their virtues. Calls Dmitriev a traitor. At his grandfather's funeral, by asking if he will go to the wake, he makes it clear to his brother that the family considers him a stranger.
Lukyanov Ivan Vasilievich, like his wife, was from the breed of "able to live." “His main strength was connections, long-term acquaintances… he once started with the owner in the city of Kirsanov, but since 1926… when he was nominated for the director of the factory… he moved along the administrative line. When Dmitriev met him, Ivan Vasilievich was already very old, overweight, suffered from shortness of breath, had a heart attack, all sorts of hardships and storms such as dismissal, party penalties, reinstatement, appointments with promotions, slander and slander from various scoundrels who strove to destroy him, but, as he himself admitted, "in relation to these moments, he was saved by only one thing: he was on the alert." The habit of constant mistrust and vigilant vigilance rubbed into his nature so much that Ivan Vasilyevich showed it everywhere. The images of the Lukyanovs are given in the story in a somewhat caricatured manner.
Lukyanova Vera Lazarevna, Dmitriev's mother-in-law, came to them almost daily under the pretext of helping, "but in fact with the sole purpose of shamelessly interfering in someone else's life." Mentally undeveloped, vindictive, suspicious. Pretentious in manners, morbidly proud, claims to belong to the new elite. He proudly remembers his uncle, the owner of leather workshops. The son-in-law, and at the same time all his relatives, despises for worthlessness.
Than Lena. Smart, mentally sensitive, tactful, able to forgive a lot and sympathize. She divorced her husband after an affair with Dmitriev, having no hope of marrying him. The only person from whom Dmitriev can accept help without feeling humiliated. But, taking advantage of T.'s kindness, sensitivity, Dmitriev feels only gratitude for her, nothing more. “She is thirty-four, still a young woman, but over the past year she has passed very well ... She has lost a lot of weight, her thin neck sticks out of her collar, on her thin face from a millet, freckled pallor, only eyes - kind - shine in constant fright. “Not long ago, a year ago, there was something in her tall figure that worried Dmitriev ... But now there was nothing left ... Now she was just a tall, thin, very long-legged woman with a bunch of henna-dyed hair on a thin neck.”
The article presents a summary of the story "Exchange". Y. Trifonov, a writer who became famous in the 60s of the last century not only in his own country, but also abroad thanks to the book House on the Embankment.
about the author
Yuri Valentinovich Trifonov was born in Moscow in 1925. After 12 years, the parents of the future writer were repressed. Yuri was raised by his grandmother - in the past an ardent revolutionary. Trifonov became interested in literature while still a schoolboy. His works were first published in 1950 in the Novy Mir magazine. But fame, as already mentioned, was brought to him by The House on the Embankment, which tells about the inhabitants of a prestigious Moscow district, most of whom died in the Stalinist camps in the 30s.
- Disease.
- Family strife.
- Looking for money.
- Tanya.
- Childhood memories.
- Lukyanovs.
- Philistinism and hypocrisy.
The summary of Trifonov's "Exchange" can be summarized in two or three sentences. The story is about the clash of members of completely different families. Different in views, moral positions. Comes to the family grief - disagreements escalate. Past grievances are remembered, the main character is trying to rethink the past years, to understand what is the reason for his quarrels with his mother and sister. So, let's get down to a brief summary of Trifonov's "Exchange", which will also present the characterization of the characters.
Disease
With living space in Moscow - in the city where The population is growing every year - there have always been problems. In the late sixties, when Trifonov's story "The Exchange" was created, a summary of which is set out in this article, the housing problem was particularly acute. When solving it, such human vices as greed and greed often surfaced. Overwhelmed by the desire to take possession of real estate, people sometimes forgot about mercy, elementary respect for loved ones.
The woman does not know anything about her diagnosis. She believes she has a stomach ulcer and hopes for a speedy recovery. Relatives of Ksenia Fedorovna, as relatives of a hopelessly ill person often do, do not reveal the truth to her. Lena, the wife of the protagonist, is a very practical person. Even in this situation, she is trying to take advantage.
Ksenia Fedorovna lives in a communal apartment located in a prestigious area - on Profsoyuznaya. In order to take possession of the living space after the death of a woman, Lena decides to move in with her. And earlier she tried in every possible way to avoid communication with her mother-in-law.
Summary of Trifonov's "Exchange": family feuds
Viktor Dmitriev was married to Elena for about 14 years. Also in the beginning of your family life he made many futile attempts to mend the relationship between mother and wife. But they were too different people. Victor had long conversations with Ksenia Fedorovna. He quarreled with Elena. For several years he insisted on moving in with Ksenia Fedorovna. But my wife was categorically against it. Moreover, women could not spend even 20 minutes together.
Once Dmitriev struggled to understand what was the reason for the disagreement between them. They were educated and intelligent women. Mother held the position of chief librarian in a large institution. Lena was a translator from English and even participated in the compilation of some textbook on translation. Victor tried to understand the reason for the "cold war" between his wife and mother, but soon reconciled.
Now, when Ksenia Fedorovna was on the verge of death, Elena told Dmitry about her desire to move to Profsoyuznaya. But before that, she told him her ideas about the exchange. They were presented in such a casual and businesslike manner that for a long time Dmitriev could not find the strength to look his wife in the eye. While Victor spent time in the hospital, his wife contemplated a profitable exchange...
Looking for money
Even from the brief content of Trifonov's story "The Exchange", we can conclude that this work reflects a common everyday situation familiar to many families. When disagreements arise between husband and wife, they are not so easy to resolve. Someone has to give in. In the Trifonov family, Victor usually had to do this. The very next day after talking about the exchange, he tried to convince himself that Elena did the right thing, in a feminine way. Perhaps their move to the mother will have a beneficial effect on her health. After all, people are cured of cancer.
The illness of a loved one is always a chore and, of course, financial costs. Dmitry urgently needed to find a large amount for those times. In addition, resigned to the idea of Elena and following her instructions, he began to collect information among his colleagues regarding the ways of profitable exchange. And in the first, and in the second, Tatiana helped him. With this woman, Victor once had a short-term affair. Sometimes it seemed to him that she could become a better wife for him than Lena.
Tatiana
Dmitry was 37 years old. He saw himself as an uninteresting person, no longer young, beginning to gain weight. Why did Tatyana love him so devotedly, without demanding anything in return? Did he deserve it? Victor asked himself such questions more than once, but finally came to the conclusion that this is exactly how it should be. They love not for something, but in spite of. Unlike Elena, Tanya knew how to listen, empathize, her feelings were not fake. And, importantly, Ksenia Fedorovna liked her.
Childhood memories
After meeting with Tatyana, Victor went to his mother, who lived in one of the summer cottages near Moscow. Suddenly, memories of childhood and adolescence came flooding back. Dmitriev's parents were ardent opponents of philistinism in any of its manifestations. My father often quarreled with his brothers, who had not received an education, who were limited, greedy people.
Victor's mother was an absolutely disinterested person. She loved helping people. It was as if material values did not exist for her. Having already reached adulthood, she began to study English. And she did it solely in order to read English novels in the original. Philistinism was also despised by Victor's sister Laura. But she, unlike her mother, was tough, harsh in expressions, incapable of compromise.
Lukyanova
That was the name of Elena's parents. Victor's sister once accused him of being a "slut". In this bizarre verb, Laura put the following meaning: to become a bourgeois, to reject spiritual values, to pursue profit. Neither Victor's mother nor sister knew about the quarrels that took place between him and his wife. They did not know about the scandals that ended in the crying of Natasha, Dmitriev's daughter. They did not realize that he could not talk to his wife for several days. And the reasons for these quarrels have always been the relationship of Elena to his mother.
The Lukyanovs were people who "knew how to live." They easily solved the issues of arranging the dacha, which seemed rather difficult to Dmitriev. They were practical people, but, according to Ksenia Feodorovna, they were not intelligent enough. Elena's father made acquaintances extremely quickly, and these acquaintances were always useful and profitable. This ability Lukyanov passed on to his daughter.
Once sociability, practicality, the ability to easily solve everyday issues delighted Victor. But over the years, many things in his wife began to annoy. Dmitriev discovered in her a kind of spiritual deafness - it was this trait that allowed Elena in those days when Ksenia Fedorovna was in the Botkin hospital to think about the issue of an exchange.
Philistinism and hypocrisy
Viktor's relatives accused the Lukyanovs of philistinism. Elena, during scandals with her husband, which reached insults, used such a word as "prudence". When reading the brief content of "The Exchange" by Yuri Trifonov, one may get the impression that this work is about a confrontation between good and bad characters. No, the book tells about ordinary family strife, in which there is no right and wrong. So, Victor's relatives boast of their education, intelligence, spirituality. Elena's parents lack tact, spiritual sensitivity. Probably both are wrong.
Quarrels between the Dmitrievs and the Lukyanovs temporarily faded into the background after the death of Ksenia Fedorovna. Dmitriev's health deteriorated, for two weeks he had to stay in bed after suffering a hypertensive crisis.
