Grigory Fedoseev's book "The Path of Trials": summary and reader reviews

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:35

In the early 1940s, the Siberian Lights magazine began to publish stories under the heading "Notes of Experienced People". Soon, fascinating stories about the nature of the Far East and Siberia found their readers, and in 1950 they were published as a separate collection, which later became part of G. A. Fedoseev's tetralogy "The Path of Trials".

About the author

The author of the book was born in the Kuban region (now Karachay-Cherkessia) in 1899. Father and older brother died during the First World War. Grigory Anisimovich graduated from the Polytechnic Institute, became a geodetic engineer and moved to Novosibirsk in the 1930s. He not only became a member and leader of expeditions to Transbaikalia, the Sayans, the Okhotsk coast and Tunguska, but also collected a huge collection of plants and handed it over to the Academy of Sciences.

Thanks to his articles on the poaching extermination of animals and fish, the facts of illegal hunting in the Eastern Sayans were revealed and the Tofalar reserve was organized. In his will, the author of the book "The Path of Trials" Fedoseev asked to buryhis ashes in the Sayans. The writer died in 1968, comrades-in-arms and friends fulfilled the last request and buried one of the urns with his ashes on the Iden Pass, which now bears the name of G. A. Fedoseev.

Mysterious taiga

Fedoseev's works tell about the nature of Siberia and the Far East, about the life of indigenous people, about the difficulties that had to be met on expeditions. All the author's works are based on real events, and there are no fictitious names in them. The last of the manuscripts, the story "Marked", was prepared for publication after the death of the writer M. Hoffmann. Among the famous works of Fedoseev are the stories and novels "The Last Bonfire", "Mysteries of the Forest", "Search", the book "The Path of Trials", which will be discussed further.

Real stories from the life of taiga explorers are waiting for readers in it. Despite the fact that Grigory Anisimovich was not a professional writer, his works are read in one breath. We must give him his due - the descriptions of nature are simply mesmerizing. The work was created on the basis of the author's diary entries made during camping by the fire. The most surprising thing is that adventures worthy of a bestseller took place in the lives of surveyors and topographers exploring the Priokhotsk taiga.

Expedition to the upper Zeya

The narration in the book "The Path of Trials" is conducted on behalf of the author. In the first part, he introduces the reader to the background of their expedition. For a long time, the region of the Sea of Okhotsk attracted researchers, and now - topographers were givenpermission. They still do not represent either the boundaries of the taiga, or the location of swamps and swamps, but they know from experience that in the fight against wildlife they will have to rely only on their own strength. The headquarters of the expedition of the city of Zeya is in full swing.

The chief engineer's desk is littered with diagrams, photographs and blueprints, foremen crowding around, charting routes along untrodden paths. It was time to get ready for the road and it turned out that there was no local guide for their party to a remote area at the junction of three ridges. A little later, they received a message that only an eighty-year-old resident of Ulukitkan had been in the upper reaches of the Zeya.

On the first evening they talked with him and his companion Nikolai until late at night. In the morning a blizzard broke out, but Ulukitkan said that it was better to make our way in bad weather than on ice. From that moment on, all members of the expedition, without saying a word, recognized the old man as the eldest among them. Gradually, the reader of Grigory Fedoseev's book "The Path of Trials" also accepts this. The author-narrator quietly fades into the background, and the wise and good-natured Evenk Ulukitkan becomes the main character of the story.

The path of perseverance and struggle

Next, the author tells what incredible trials researchers have to go through. What makes them give up comforts and follow the path of trials? Thirst for research? Yes. For the happiness of seeing the conquered space from the mountain, you have to pay with sleepless nights, legs knocked down in the blood. In addition to cold and fatigue, other dangers await in the taiga.

Tirelessly following the caravan goespack of wolves. Clattering their teeth from hunger, they wait for the moment when tired deer and people collapse exhausted into the snow. And this is where wisdom comes in. The experience of the guide Ulukitkan, who has seen a lot in his lifetime: "You have to walk, still walk." The tired old man walked himself and forced others to walk, saving them from the flood. Treacherous Gorge behind.

In Search

In the morning the whole camp was awakened by Ulukitkan's voice: "The trouble has come!". Alien deer have nailed to the herd, somewhere on the pass people are dying. How does the old conductor know this? “When a person freezes, he cannot untie the belts on a deer, he cuts with a knife.” The storm broke out. But crackers, a first-aid kit, meat, fur things flew into knapsacks. We must go to help. A colleague from a neighboring expedition was caught on the way by a storm, fleeing from a strong wind, he and a wounded guide hid in the taiga, building a simple shelter from fir branches.

A day later, when the blizzard subsided, we all went to the pass together. And they were dumbfounded. An angry muzzle of a bear appeared from under the snow. Den. There is only hope for dogs - Kuchum and Boyka. Gathered around the fire in the evening, everyone listened spellbound to the wise hunter Ulukitkan. An experienced tracker, he said that in the taiga every branch, every path can speak. The trials that befell the old man taught him a lot. “The eye must see everything,” he said, and continued the story that the Evenks used to divide the year not into twelve months, but into many periods in accordance with natural phenomena.

Spring road

The second part of the book begins with a description of nature. Spring has come, and the harsh forest is filled with the mysterious sounds of awakening nature. A radiogram was received from the head of the party with a request to examine the junction of the Dzhugdzhursky and Stanovoy ridges as soon as possible. It was decided to perform in a day, everyone bent over the map. Ulukitkan pointed his finger at her: “The pass must be sought at the top of Mai.”

Woke up early. The old man could not go to the pass because of his wounded leg. Staying in the camp, he saw off the "lucky ones" with an envious look and asked to turn over the largest stone on the top. Where eighty years ago, saving children from starvation, his mother walked. Where his father was forever. And in the blue distance lay wavy mountain ranges and beckoned with their snowy whiteness.

On the way back

Day after day, the author of the "Path of Trials" describes the everyday life of cartographers and geographers. Cut off from civilization for many months, they are united by work. Wild nature and harsh taiga cannot resist their mutual assistance, devotion of dogs, resourcefulness and ingenuity of an old hunter. Having lived in the taiga all his life, Ulukitkan predicts the weather better than meteorologists, easily climbs mountains and goes skiing.

The words of the protagonist of G. Fedoseev's book "The Path of Trials" can be parsed into quotes. Each phrase is a storehouse of wisdom. He charges with his energy, strikes with observation and logic. In situations where life was in danger, the author repeatedly recalled the words of the old man. The last chapter, where the narrator loses a blind old man in the taiga, strikes one to the core. And withwhat a relief to know that the old man was found and airlifted to the hospital!

Summary of Fedoseev's "Path of Trials" cannot convey the feelings experienced by the expedition members. On the last pages, the author tells readers about his experiences, upset that Ulukitkan will not be able to return to the taiga. Imagine their surprise when the eighty-year old man escaped from the hospital and went on foot "to the boss." Ulukitkan led their caravan again.

Reviews from readers

A wonderful book about the wild taiga, about life in the field. The life of these brave people, the heroes of the work, fascinates and delights. The traditions and life of the local population are described in an interesting way. Readers are drawn to the fact that the characters are real. Ulukitkan led many more detachments along impassable paths. The trials that befell the heroes cause a storm of feelings. After all, they are not chasing fame and money, but simply doing their job.