Mikhail Zoshchenko's book "Before Sunrise" (1943) was created in the forties, but the writer approached it almost from the first literary steps. This is an experience of a genre unique to Zoshchenko - not tale, but direct speech. Memories and reflections, dreams and quotes, references to I. Pavlov and Z. Freud build an intellectual plot, the ultimate task of which is the experience of practical psychotherapy, an attempt to show the path of salvation for both an individual and all of humanity. A. Etkind, a researcher of psychoanalysis in Russia, called this book “an outstanding example fiction influenced by psychoanalysis."

“When I remember my young years, I am amazed at how much grief, unnecessary worries and melancholy I had,” Zoshchenko formulates the original problem, his psychological complex. “I strove for people, I was happy with life, I was looking for friends, love, happy meetings... But I found no consolation in anything. Everything grew dim in my hands. The melancholy followed me at every step..."

From the perspective of Russian culture, “Before Sunrise” turned out to be another confession-sermon, like Gogol’s “Author’s Confession” or L. Tolstoy’s “Confession”. However, a different era predetermined a different perception of it and the drama of Zoshchenko’s fate. The book became the reason for the party resolution of 1946 and subsequent persecution of the writer.

The introductory article and detailed commentary on the text were written by prof. I.N.Sukhikh.

On our website you can download the book “Before Sunrise” by Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko for free and without registration in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format, read the book online or buy the book in the online store.

Zoshchenko always considered the autobiographical story “Before Sunrise” to be his main work.

This story is about how the author tried to overcome his melancholy and fear of life. He considered this fear to be his mental illness, and not at all a feature of his talent, and tried to overcome himself, to instill in himself a childish, cheerful worldview. To do this (as he believed under the influence of the works of Pavlov and Freud), it was necessary to overcome childhood fears and overcome the dark memories of youth. And Zoshchenko, recalling his life, discovers that almost all of it consisted of gloomy and difficult, tragic and stinging impressions.

He meticulously analyzes his own path, and thereby the path of the Russian intellectual, who found himself at the turning point of two eras.

He also talks about his colleagues in the “writing workshop” - Alexander Blok, Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Olesha, Sergei Yesenin, Korney Chukovsky...

Copyright holders! The presented fragment of the book is posted in agreement with the distributor of legal content, LitRes LLC (no more than 20% of the original text). If you believe that the posting of material violates your or someone else's rights, please let us know.

The Freshest! Book receipts for today

• I'm not a witch!
  Tour Teresa
  Science Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Romance Novels, Romance-Fiction Novels
  

  Something strange is happening in the city... Witches are losing control of their powers, people are suffering. And what to do with all this? I am Agnes Preszi, a certified psychologist. And I will get a job at the Royal Adaptation Center and will help the witches at all costs! And the fact that the arrogant lord doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to become my boss is his difficulty! I will prove to him and everyone around me what I am capable of!

• Sapphire Flames
  Andrews Ilona
  Romance novels, Romance-fantasy novels
  

  From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews comes an enthralling new trilogy set in the Hidden Legacy world, where magic means power, and family bloodlines are the new currency of society…

  In a world where magic is the key to power and wealth, Catalina Baylor is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, and the Head of her House. Catalina has always been afraid to use her unique powers, but when her friend’s mother and sister are murdered, Catalina risks her reputation and safety to unravel the mystery.

  But behind the scenes powerful forces are at work, and one of them is Alessandro Sagredo, the Italian Prime who was once Catalina’s teenage crush. Dangerous and unpredictable, Alessandro’s true motives are unclear, but he’s drawn to Catalina like a moth to a flame.

  To help her friend, Catalina must test the limits of her extraordinary powers, but doing so may cost her both her House–and her heart.

• Chrysalis
  Deneen Brendan
  Science Fiction, Horror and Mysticism, Detective and Thriller, Thriller,
  

  Millennials Tom and Jenny Decker, who do not even have a normal job, have to grow up quickly - they lose a cheap apartment in a prestigious area of ​​​​New York. Moving out of town turns out to be a big blow for a couple of hipsters. But everything is quickly forgotten when they find the Dream House - a surprisingly affordable house in the suburbs.

  Paying bills, mortgage debt and Jenny's completely unplanned pregnancy cause only fear in Tom. He doesn't want to take on such responsibility. Until he accidentally finds SOMETHING in the basement of the house. IT makes him feel like a winner, changes his perception and sensations. And so new job brings him big money, now Jenny will be able to turn her dream business into reality.

  But the Decker Dream House hides more than one deadly secret. Tom's obsession with the basement grows, and Jenny decides to reveal its secret to save her family. Before IT destroys them all.

  Nobody wants to grow up... but sometimes it's the only way to stay alive.

• Scramasax
  Tyurin Roman Vyacheslavovich
  Science Fiction, Alternative History, Mysticism,
  

  September two thousand fifteen. Roman, a forty-year-old resident of the Russian province, goes to pick mushrooms and gets into serious trouble - he is attacked by a seasoned cleaver. Bloody fight: the boar is defeated, the hero, having suffered greatly, falls into a coma. From a state between life and death, Roman, as the owner of a very interesting knife, is transported by demons into the past, and he finds himself on the territory of medieval Rus' in one thousand four hundred and fifty-three.

• Liquidator. Ghost Territory
  Ponomarev Alexander Leonidovich
  Fantasy, Action fiction, Heroic fiction
  

  Often, rash actions determine not only our fate, but also the fates of those close to us. Sometimes it's better to think twice before taking the plunge. Kuprum and Nastya saved the Sorcerer from captivity in the portal anomaly, and together they all ended up in a world similar to the Zone. Fate scattered them across the territory of the cursed lands inhabited by terrible monsters. Trying to find each other, three stalkers, without knowing it, make fatal mistakes. Now the heroes have only seventy-two hours and one attempt to return everything to normal...

Set "Week" - top new products - leaders for the week!

• Faculty of uniform scoundrels
  Ruff Nika
  Science Fiction, Detective Fiction, Fantasy, Romance Novels, Romance-Fiction Novels,
  

  Graduating from university is not everything! The year-long mandatory service hangs over me like a noose, promising to tighten around my neck at any moment. And so the mysterious college cordially opens the gates to the students and closes them behind the backs of the unfortunate teachers, among whom I am now.

  Here, magic is used without the usual prohibitions, the smiles of colleagues are more like grins, the faces of the studio members are full of contempt, and the group entrusted to me are still insolent in uniform. And everything would be fine, but the main trouble bears a man’s name and looks suspiciously in my direction...

• My favorite (c)tenderness
  Shkutova Yulia
  Fantasy, Heroic fiction,
  

  The young healer Solara has returned home after many years of training and is full of hope for the future. However, a meeting with the prince, with whom she was in love as a girl, confused all the cards. And what about the prince? Powerful and irreconcilable, it seemed that he did not know how to love at all... But love knows no barriers. The main thing is not to miss it and recognize your feelings in time.

  And Solara never gets bored without it! There are secrets, intrigues, danger, vampires all around... And a nasty rival walks nearby all the time, not allowing you to relax even for a moment.

  This means that you need to unravel all the secrets, ward off your rival, avoid danger, captivate the prince’s heart and... fall in love. More than ever! As the last time!

• Faculty of Defenders
  Danberg Dana
  Science Fiction, Detective Fiction, Romance Novels, Romance-Fiction Novels
  

  The story of junior police officer Violet Shire continues. Will the dean be able to win her heart, what goals does he pursue? What does he feel for her... guilt, a parental desire to protect, or is it something else, more burning and explosive? But you can’t run away from work either. Violet, despite the ban, does not want to give up the case of the kidnapping of witches. She will have to answer the question: what are the top hierarchs of the clan up to, are they involved in crimes? In addition, another strange case appears, in which well-known heroes find themselves involved. Perhaps some secrets will be revealed past life vampires.

M.M. Zoshchenko

BEFORE THE SUNRISE

(story)

PREFACE

I have been planning this book for a very long time. Immediately after I published my “Youth Restored”.

For almost ten years I collected materials for this new book and waited for a quiet year so that I could sit down to work in the silence of my office.

But this did not happen.

Against. German bombs fell near my materials twice. The briefcase containing my manuscripts was covered with lime and bricks. Already the flames of the fire were licking them. And I am amazed how it happened that they were preserved.

The collected material flew with me on an airplane across the German front from surrounded Leningrad.

I took twenty heavy notebooks with me. To reduce their weight, I tore off the calico bindings. And yet they weighed about eight kilograms of the twelve kilograms of baggage accepted by the plane. And there was a moment when I was simply sad that I took this trash instead of warm underpants and an extra pair of boots.

However, the love of literature triumphed. I have come to terms with my unfortunate fate.

In a black torn briefcase I brought my manuscripts to Central Asia, to the henceforth blessed city of Alma-Ata.

All year I was busy here writing various scripts on topics needed during the Great Patriotic War.

I kept the material I brought in in the wooden couch on which I slept.

From time to time I raised the top of my couch. There, on the plywood bottom, lay twenty of my notebooks next to a bag of crackers, which I had prepared out of Leningrad habit.

I leafed through these notebooks, bitterly regretting that the time had not come to begin this work, which seemed so unnecessary now, so distant from the war, from the roar of guns and the scream of shells.

Never mind, I told myself, immediately after the end of the war I will begin this work.

I put my notebooks back on the bottom of the couch. And, lying on it, I figured out in my mind when, in my opinion, the war might end. It turned out that not very soon. But when - I didn’t dare to establish this. - However, why hasn’t the time come to take on this work of mine? - I once thought. - After all, my materials speak about the triumph of the human mind, about science, about the progress of consciousness! My work refutes the “philosophy” of fascism, which says that consciousness brings innumerable troubles to people, that human happiness lies in a return to barbarism, to savagery, in the rejection of civilization.

In August 1942, I put my manuscripts on the table and, without waiting for the end of the war, began to work.

For a good wish for the game

The actor is forgiven for his performance.

Ten years ago I wrote my story called “Youth Restored.”

It was an ordinary story, one of those that are written in great numbers by writers, but it was accompanied by comments - sketches of a physiological nature.

These sketches explained the behavior of the characters in the story and gave the reader some information on human physiology and psychology.

I did not write “Youth Restored” for people of science, however, it was they who reacted to my work with special attention. There were many disputes. There were disputes. I heard a lot of barbs. But friendly words were also spoken.

I was embarrassed that scientists argued with me so seriously and heatedly. This means that I don’t know much (I thought), but science, apparently, has not sufficiently touched upon those issues that I, due to my inexperience, had the courage to touch upon.

One way or another, the scientists talked to me almost as an equal. And I even began to receive summonses to meetings at the Brain Institute. And Ivan Petrovich Pavlov invited me to his “Wednesdays”.

But I repeat, I did not write my essay for science. It was literary work, and the scientific material was only an integral part.

It has always amazed me: before drawing the human body, an artist must study anatomy. Only knowledge of this science saved the artist from errors in the image. And a writer, who is responsible for more than the human body - his psyche, his consciousness - does not often strive for this kind of knowledge. I felt it was my responsibility to learn something. And, having learned, he shared it with the reader.

Thus, “Youth Restored” arose.

Now that ten years have passed, I clearly see the defects of my book: it was incomplete and one-sided. And, probably, for this I should have been scolded more than I was scolded.

In the fall of 1934, I met one wonderful physiologist (A.D. Speransky).

When it came to my work, this physiologist said:

I prefer your regular stories. But I admit that what you write about should be written. Studying consciousness is not just the job of a scientist. I suspect that this is still in to a greater extent a writer's business than a scientist's. I am a physiologist and therefore I am not afraid to say this.

I answered him:

I think so too. The area of ​​consciousness, the area of ​​higher mental activity belongs more to us than to you. Human behavior can and should be studied with the help of a dog and a lancet. However, humans (and dogs) sometimes have “fantasies” that unusually change the strength of sensation even with the same stimulus. And here sometimes you need a “conversation with the dog” in order to understand all the complexity of its fantasy. And “talking to a dog” is entirely our area.

Smiling, the scientist said:

You are partly right. The ratio is often not the same between the strength of stimulation and the response, especially in the sphere of sensation. But if you are applying for this area, then this is where you will meet us.

Several years have passed since this conversation. Having learned that I was preparing a new book, the physiologist asked me to talk about this work.

I said:

In short, this is a book about how I got rid of many unnecessary griefs and became happy.

Will it be a treatise or a novel?

This will be a literary work. Science will enter into it, just as history sometimes enters into a novel.

Will there be comments again?

No. It will be something whole. Just as a gun and a shell can be one.

So this work will be about you?

Half the book will be occupied by my special one. I won’t hide it from you - this really confuses me.

Will you talk about your life?

No. Worse. I will talk about things that are not entirely customary to talk about in novels. I am consoled by the fact that we will be talking about my younger years. It's like talking about someone who's dead.

Until what age do you take yourself into your book?

Until about thirty years of age.

Perhaps there is a reason to estimate another fifteen years? Then the book will be more complete - about your whole life.

No, I said. - From the age of thirty I became a completely different person - no longer suitable for the subjects of my writing.

Has such a change occurred?

It can't even be called a change. A completely different life arose, not at all similar to what it was.

But how? Was it psychoanalysis? Freud?

Not at all. It was Pavlov. I used his principle. It was his idea.

What did you do yourself?

I did an essentially simple thing: I removed what was bothering me - incorrect conditioned reflexes that had mistakenly arisen in my mind. I destroyed the false connection between them. I broke the “temporary ties,” as Pavlov called them.

How?

At that time I had not fully thought through my materials and therefore found it difficult to answer this question. But he told me about the principle. True, it's quite vague.

Thoughtful, the scientist replied:

Write. Just don't promise people anything.

I said:

I'll be careful. I will only promise what I received myself. And only to those people who have properties close to mine.

Laughing, the scientist said:

That's not a lot. And it is right. Tolstoy's philosophy, for example, was useful only to him and no one else.

I answered:

Tolstoy's philosophy was religion, not science. It was faith that helped him. I am far from religion. I'm not talking about faith or a philosophical system. I'm talking about iron formulas, tested by a great scientist. My role is modest in this matter: I am in practice human life checked these formulas and connected what seemed not to connect.

I broke up with the scientist and haven’t seen him since then. He probably decided that I had abandoned my book without being able to finish it.

But, as I have already reported to you, I was waiting for a quiet year.

This did not happen. It's a pity. I write much worse under the roar of guns. The beauty will undoubtedly be reduced. Emotional unrest will shake the style. Anxiety will extinguish knowledge. Nervousness will be perceived as haste. This will be seen as negligence towards science, disrespect for the scientific world...