Historical research includes source study and historiographic analysis.

Source study studies a historical document to establish the place and time of its creation, authorship, purpose of writing and, most importantly, reliability. Working with new, unknown documents is considered primary research. Work based on already published documents is called secondary research.

Historiography is an analysis of concepts that already exist in scientific historical literature. Studying the works of historians allows you to determine your own research topic, not repeat paths already taken, and not waste time developing refuted hypotheses.

The historian deals with the past and cannot directly observe the object of his study. The only means of information for him about the past is historical source , through which he receives the most important information about the era under study.

Historical sources are understood as all the remnants of the past, which reflect historical evidence that reflects real phenomena public life and human activities.

Historical sources are divided into several groups:

The influence of the geographical environment and climate on the history of Russia

The geographical environment and climate have a huge impact on the life and development of society. Many outstanding historians and thinkers of the past and present have tried to comprehend the role of nature and climate in determining the specifics of our country: the characteristics of the economy, the type of society and government, and national character.

1. The impact of climate on the Russian economy.

Russia is the coldest country in the world. Our average annual temperature is +1 °C. 70% of the country's territory is located in permafrost conditions, where the development of industry and Agriculture. No other Western country (not even Canada) has such a harsh climate. In addition, Russia is the longest country in the world (17 million km², 1/7 of the land).

The geography of our country makes its development extremely difficult:

1) in Russia there is a short period for agricultural work;

2) enormous costs for heating housing, workshops, farms, etc.;

3) significant costs for freight transportation.

As a result, a unit of any product produced in Russia, due to heating and transportation costs, is more expensive than a similar Western one. Russia, therefore, is uncompetitive on the world market simply because our winters are colder. This means that the only way out for the Russian economy is maximum isolation from the world market (for example, the Soviet model of a planned economy).

2. Features of Russia due to climate and geography.

The specifics of the continental climate and vast spaces of Eurasia determined following features Russian civilization:

1) the harsh climate made it difficult to maintain economic activity, from here - low level surplus product, which determined development and strengthening of community forms of life . In the Russian climate, peasants could only survive in the community. The communal way of life of the Russian peasantry created the belief that people should live together, based on the principles of cooperation and collectivism. Connected with this is the formation in Russia of a “family type” economy, focused not on making a profit and developing private initiative (Western market capitalism), but on providing everyone with the minimum necessary for life and development material goods in the unfavorable conditions of the Russian climate and the continuous struggle against external danger;

2) the development of vast territories could only be carried out by a strong centralized despotic power, which determined the presence of a totalitarian-ideocratic type of power in Russia , lack of rights of subjects, service character of classes.

The establishment of the autocratic tendency in Russia is explained by:

Firstly, This is the current geopolitical situation. The flat nature of the landscape, the absence of natural boundaries and openness to enemies in both the West and the East required enormous effort to ensure security. Under these conditions, a strict organization of all classes of society was required, the consolidation of their responsibilities and subordination single center, i.e. despotic state.

Secondly, extensive nature of economic activity. In conditions of low soil fertility and harsh climate, an increase in gross product production could only be achieved through the development of new lands, which predetermined the colonization processes. However, in any case, its volume remained extremely low, and in order to withdraw part of the product necessary to maintain the army, the administrative apparatus, construction work etc., it was necessary to resort to extreme measures, which also created the conditions for the emergence of autocracy.

Third, there were no social mechanisms limiting autocracy. The defeat as a result of the Tatar-Mongol invasion affected the relatively independent boyars and cities. As a result, the townspeople became allies of the grand ducal power, and did not oppose it, as in Western Europe, and the boyars were formed as a service layer.

3) the openness of Russian spaces has led to such qualities of the Russian soul how breadth of thinking, universal responsiveness, craving for freedom, the ability to get along with other peoples, but at the same time, the difficulties of mastering caused apathy, fatalism, catastrophism of consciousness, making the extensive path of development a priority;

4) Russia's openness made it an attractive target for external invasions. The history of Russia is endless struggle against invasions, selfless defense of the native land.

According to the famous chemist D.I. Mendeleev, “Russia has always lived a trench life,” i.e. All the forces of the people were spent on protecting and developing lands, maintaining the army and the bureaucracy. Hence the thought of V. O. Klyuchevsky: “The state grew stronger - the people grew weaker.”

3. Russian historians about the influence of geography on the history of Russia.

The most famous Russian historian V. O. Klyuchevsky pointed to the determining role of geography and climate on the course of the Russian historical process. He represented the logic of national history as a continuous colonization process Russian ethnos of the spaces of Eurasia, which had a decisive influence on the position of classes, the type of power, and the nature of legislation. He even distinguished the first stages of Russian history in accordance with the course of this colonization: 1. Dnieper ( Kievan Rus) and 2. Verkhnevolzhsky (Moscow Rus').

Eurasian scientists (P. Savitsky, N. Trubetskoy, N. Alekseev, G. Vernadsky, etc.) in emigration in the 1920s, they formulated a position on Russia as a continental Eurasian power - a geopolitical heir Mongol Empire Genghis Khan, who united the peoples of Eurasia in harmonious unity. Eurasians introduced the concept of " site development", denoting the inextricable connection between the geographical territory and the type of civilization (its government, society, mentality).

According to Eurasians, the identity and fate of Russia were determined and laid down by the nature of Eurasia: the harsh climate, vastness of space, latitudinal changes in natural zones from ice to deserts, and the influence of the Steppe. Historian G. Vernadsky divided the history of Russia into periods, the main content of which was the relationship between the Forest (sedentary Rus') and the Steppe (nomadic world), thereby making the geographical factor leading in the history of the country: 1. Confrontation of the Forest and the Steppe (Kievan Rus), 2. Victory of the Steppe over the Forest ( Mongol yoke), 3. Coexistence of the Forest and the Steppe (Moscow Kingdom), 4. Victory of the Forest over the Steppe (Imperial Russia).

The ideas of the Eurasians in the USSR were supported and developed Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev, who called himself “the last Eurasian.”

Modern historian Lev Milov in his monograph “The Great Russian Plowman and the Peculiarities of the Russian Historical Process” formulated the concept of the socio-economic history of Russia as a special type of society, with a minimum level of surplus product (due to an unfavorable climate). Hence such features of Russian civilization as: communal consolidation of the people in opposition to nature, external enemies, the system-forming role of the state and government, the military-state type of civilization.

Topic 5

HISTORICAL SOURCES AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION

Plan

Types of historical sources, their external and internal criticism.

Chronological classification of sources.

Typological classification of sources.

Types of historical sources,

their external and internal criticism

The study of the historical process and reconstruction of past events is carried out through the study of historical sources. In order for the research to be of high quality and professional, the historian must collect information about the subject of research from the maximum possible number of historical sources.

Historical source – This is any material object that is the result of human activity and contains information about the past of human society.

Currently according to the form of the material carrier stand out five types of historical sources: 1) physical, 2) written, 3) oral, 4) film, photo, video and audio materials; 5) electronic sources.

To material sources include archaeological sources, coats of arms, seals, coins, paper money, flags, orders, medals, etc. The bulk of material sources are studied by special auxiliary historical disciplines, which are specialized branches of source studies (heraldry, sphragistics, numismatics, faleristics and others). Material sources are the main and only type of sources for researchers when studying the most ancient periods in human history, when writing did not yet exist.

To written sources refers to all documents and texts existing in written form. Written sources have another name - narrative, from the Latin "narrare" - to write. Since the advent of writing, narrative sources have become the main type of sources for researchers, since they contain the largest amount of information about the past of human society.

To oral sources These include texts that currently exist in oral form, or that arose and existed in oral form for a long time, and were subsequently written down (for example, some epics that appeared in Kievan Rus, but were recorded only in the 19th century). The main part of oral sources consists of folklore sources - works of oral folk art (folk epics, folk songs, fairy tales, legends, traditions, tales, etc.).

To the fourth type sources include sources of modern times - photographic documents (from the mid-19th century), film documents (from the late 19th century), audio materials (from the late 19th century), video materials (from the mid-20th century).

To use a historical source in scientific research, it is necessary to establish its reliability. The reliability of a source is determined by its external and internal criticism.

External criticism - this is the determination of the authenticity of a source by establishing the time and place of its origin, as well as authorship. Establishing time, place and authorship is called attribution source (to establish all this means to attribute the source).

Internal criticism – this is the determination of the reliability of information in a source by comparing its content with the content of other sources on a given subject of research.

The older the source, the more difficult it is to carry out internal and external criticism. However, without this, not a single historical source can be used in scientific historical research. It should be noted that the volume and complexity of the problems solved can be so great that determining the reliability of information in a source often becomes an independent task. scientific problem, that is, the problem of independent scientific research.

2. Chronological classification of historical sources

In modern source studies, there is a complex system for classifying historical sources, but the main types are chronological and typological classifications.

Chronological classification – This is the identification of groups of sources according to historical eras in the development of society. This classification coincides with the general periodization of Russian history. In modern historical science, the following general periodization of Russian history has been adopted.

General periodization of Russian history

I. Primitive society on the territory of modern Russia - from 700 thousand years ago (the penetration of ancient people into the territory of the East European Plain) until the 6th century. n. e. (the beginning of the transition to feudal society).

II. The period of transition from primitive to feudal society at Eastern Slavs– from the 6th century (the emergence of large tribal unions among the Eastern Slavs - Kujava, Slavia, Artania) until the beginning of the 12th century (1132, the collapse of the early feudal state of Kievan Rus and the beginning of feudal fragmentation):

1) the period of the decomposition of primitive society and the formation of the preconditions for the formation of the state among the Eastern Slavs - from the 6th century. until the end of the 9th century (882);

2) the period of the early feudal state of Kievan Rus - from the end of the 9th to the beginning of the 12th centuries. (1132)

III. Period of developed feudalism in history Russian society- from the beginning of the 12th to the middle of the 18th century (1764, Catherine the Second’s decree prohibiting persons of non-noble origin from buying serfs for manufactories, the emergence of bourgeois manufactories, the beginning of the transition to capitalism).

IV. Transition period from feudal society to the bourgeois – from the middle of the 18th century. until the beginning of the 20th century. (socialist revolution in October 1917).

V. The period of existence of Soviet (bureaucratic) society in the USSR - from 1917 (October Revolution) to 1985 (the beginning of the policy of perestroika, the beginning of the collapse of the USSR and the transition to a bourgeois society):

the period of liquidation of bourgeois relations, as well as the remnants of feudal relations and the formation of a bureaucratic (socialist) society - from 1917 to the end of the 1930s;

the period of existence of Soviet society in the established militarized-bureaucratic form - from the late 30s to the mid-50s. XX century;

the period of transition of Soviet society from a militarized to an administrative-bureaucratic form - from the mid-50s to the mid-60s. XX century;

the period of existence of Soviet society in a developed administrative-bureaucratic form - from the mid-60s to the mid-80s. XX century.

VI. The period of Russia's transition from a bureaucratic society to a bourgeois one - since the mid-80s. XX century to the present.

In accordance with the general periodization of Russian history, modern source studies distinguishes 5 types of sources:

1) written historical sources of the period of decomposition of primitive society and the transition to feudalism (VI - early XII centuries);

2) written historical sources from the period of developed feudalism (beginning of the 12th – mid-18th centuries);

3) written historical sources from the period of the decomposition of feudalism and the transition to capitalism (mid-18th - early 20th centuries);

4) written historical sources of Soviet society (1917 - 1985);

written historical sources of the post-Soviet (modern) period - from 1985 to the present.

Typological classification of historical sources

Within each historical era, written historical sources are divided into types.

Types of historical sources is a collection of sources of one historical era, identified by their origin and functions in society.

Among the whole complex material sources Currently, 21 types are distinguished, each of which is the subject of study in an independent special auxiliary historical discipline:

Metal money – coins (studied by numismatics).

Paper money and securities (studied by bonistics).

Orders, medals, awards (studied by phaleristics).

Banners, flags, pennants (studied by vexillology).

Uniforms and military uniforms (studied by uniform studies).

Stamps (studied by sphragistics).

Coats of arms (studied by heraldry).

Stamps (studied by philately).

Emblems (studied by emblems).

Material sources extracted from the earth (archeology).

Bone remains of humans and animals (osteology).

Paleographical sources

Ancient texts (studied by paleography).

Ancient handwritten books (studied by codicology).

Birch bark letters (studied by birch barkology).

Juristic documents (studied by diplomacy).

Filigree – paper watermarks in ancient texts (studied by filigree studies).

Epigraphic sources

Lettering on solid material (studied by epigraphy).

Gravestone inscriptions (studied by epitaph).

Proper names (studied by onomastics).

Geographical names (studied by toponymy).

Genealogical books (genealogy).

Paleographical and epigraphic sources constitute a special group of material sources, since they are both material monuments and carriers of texts. They are classified as material rather than written sources because within the framework of these disciplines they are studied primarily not from the point of view of the content of the text, but from the point of view of the external characteristics of the material medium (quality and technique of paper making, quality and technique of writing, etc. ).

In modern source studies it stands out 9 Types of Written Historical Sources :

1) chronicles;

2) legislative sources;

3) official materials;

4) office documentation;

5) statistical sources;

6) documents of personal origin (memoirs, diaries, letters);

7) literary works;

8) journalism;

9) scientific works.

These types of written sources arose and existed in various periods of Russian history. As society developed, the total number of written sources increased, some types disappeared and new ones emerged.

In this article we will touch upon the work of Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum, who left on a visa in 1925 to study in the United States and received citizenship here. The daughter of a pharmacist, with a lot of effort, “made herself” on American soil, turning into a recognized literary classic and philosopher Ayn Rand.

"The Fountainhead" is a novel she wrote in 1943. At first it was unfavorably received by critics, but after a couple of years this work, having turned into a bestseller, took a prominent place in American literary classics. What prompted Ayn Rand to write the novel? The idea of ​​the value of the human genius, the human ego for the whole society, individualism opposing dullness, a protest against the execution in 1937 in distant Russia of Lev Bekkerman, who was Alice’s first love?

Main hero and heroine

The main character of Ayn Rand's novel "The Fountainhead" is a creative man, Howard Roark. This extraordinary image reflects the philosophical views of the writer, which can be very briefly described as rational individualism. Our architect considers it ridiculous to consult with others, because a person should have a clear idea of ​​what he wants to achieve in life. In contrast to the “team”, “ant” collectivism, Roark feels a deep personal need to create and change the world. He is charismatic, principled and consistent in defending his views on the need to have the necessary degree of freedom.

Difficult central female image presents the book “The Source”. Ayn Rand portrays the business-minded young woman Dominique Francon, who also does not betray her self. Before finding family happiness in her marriage to Howard Roark, she was married twice - to Peter Keating and Gail Wynand.

Inner circle of friends

The person unable to choose the protagonist's path is his friend and fellow student Peter Keating. Unfortunately, he only wants to follow outside success without having the inner core for it. Using his example, Ayn Rand shows the story of most professionals with broken destinies. “The Source” reveals the reason for his defeat in life - the abandonment of his “I” for the sake of the interests of “ the right people" The writer clearly illuminated the cause of his crisis - disorientation in life, the replacement of the real desire to become a great desire to be considered such by other people.

Gail Wynand, owner of the Banner newspaper, is a more complete person. However, possessing the qualities of an organizer and leader, he gradually weakens and levels out his potential, following the opinion of representatives of influential sections of society. In the past, when building a career, he was an individualist. Recalling the beginning of his career, the cool editor joked that the obvious minus (no one helped him then) gave rise to a plus (but no one interfered). However, at the end of the novel, having lost his ego for the sake of his environment, Wynand also suffers a fiasco.

Ayn Rand portrays in the novel Howard's open ideological opponent, the critic and journalist Ellsworth Toohey, a collectivist by his convictions who acts by unscrupulous methods. This is a low and vile person.

Unfinished college, unpromising place of work

Howard Roark has been uncompromisingly following his own path since his youth. life's path. Taking architecture as his life's work, he abandons classical methods of building design, coming into conflict with the teachers of the Stanton Institute of Technology. He prefers to be excluded, but remain true to his ideals. The young idealist finds in New York a little-known, but self-sufficient and creative architect, Henry Cameron, whose work he considers worthy and promising. However, this bureau soon becomes bankrupt. Howard changes several jobs in different companies. Not yielding to the attempts of his colleagues to influence his vision of architecture, he prefers to quit it and get a job as a stonemason.

Personality of Peter Keating

The book “The Source” also shows another, pragmatic beginning life path. Peter Keating, by contrast, follows the beaten path. He graduates from college and goes to work at a top architectural agency. The young careerist does not feel any mental discomfort while pleasing his clients. At the same time, his attitude to the art of architecture is formal. He spends his mental strength on achieving external gloss in his work. When faced with a problem, Peter knows that Howard Roark's advice will certainly help him.

The beginning of Howard and Dominique's acquaintance

The theme of love is the highlight of many novels, and Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is no exception. Reviews indicate that human relationships are masterfully depicted in it. Dominique, the daughter of Guy Francon, owner of the quarry where Howard Roark works, sympathizes with him. However, the interaction between these two young people with strong egos reaches a dead end, ending in rough sex. The girl did not even recognize the name of the extravagant stonemason.

Trap for the maverick

Roark returns to New York to work in his specialty. Finally his work is being noticed. However, Ellsword Toohey, driven by his rejection of the protagonist’s personality, decides to destroy him with newspaper slander. His calculation is correct. First, the journalist provokes Roark into unconventional architectural creativity. To do this, he persuades customer Hopton Stoddard to entrust Howard with the construction of a temple of the human spirit. He creates a truly original project, and it includes the figure of a naked woman as an architectural element. (They met again in New York with Dominique, and she posed for him to create a sculpture.)

Ellsword convinces Hopton of the performer's incompetence, and he initiates a trial. “Traditional” architects who dislike Roark’s “black sheep” testify against him. Dominique's intercession at her trial did not help. Howard was convicted. By the way, his former classmate Peter Keating also testified against the accused. Ellsword is triumphant.

Personal life Dominique

After the trial, Dominique Francon, trying to sort out his feelings for Roark, decides to end the relationship. She marries Peter Keating. She does her best to help him make a career in an architecture company. And this goes so far that the woman, by agreement with her husband, is given to the editor of a famous newspaper, Gale Wynand. He falls in love with a young woman and, in turn, proposes to her. Dominique, disappointed in Peter, agrees. Ex-husband As compensation for moral costs, he receives an expensive order.

However, despite the trial, clients turn to Roark. Fate is often ironic. By chance, one of her hoaxes occurs. To build his new family nest, the successful editor Wynand voluntarily chooses an architect whose buildings he always likes, namely Howard Roark. They become friends. The businessman does not know that his wife and the architect previously had a relationship.

Peter uses Roarke

At this time, careerist Keating manages to receive the task of developing a promising and complex government project - the development of the Cortlandt area. Economy class houses should subsequently become the standard for such construction in different regions. Peter turns to Roarke for help. He, being interested in such work as a professional, agrees to do it anonymously and free of charge. The agreement is simple: Keating must build a building that strictly corresponds to the developed project.

However, Howard, returning from vacation, discovered that the agreement had been broken. His ego is bruised. He angrily destroys the constructed building by blowing it up. At the same time, Dominic distracts the watchman. Wynand's newspaper first supported Roark, and then, under pressure from the union, opposed it.

Happy end

The denouement of the novel confirms the idea that a talented person is talented not only in his professional field. A brilliant speech by the accused in his own defense convinces the judges of his innocence. Roark talks powerfully about the role of ego and individualism in true creativity. Dominic and Howard get married. Ayn Rand's quote that only a person who loves himself can fully understand and love another is confirmed.

Wynand's newspaper closes due to problems. The rich man asks Roark to design a skyscraper for himself as a monument to the spiritual power that he himself might have, with the former editor admitting that Howard has it.

The novel ends with a scene of the meeting of the Roarks and Gale Wynand on the roof of an already constructed building.

The main idea of ​​the novel

The only criterion of the value of the people around him that Howard Roark recognizes is their personal independence. Ayn Rand presents this cornerstone idea to her readers. "The Source" is a book about human dignity, about its primary meaning for any person. And the only criterion, the litmus test that determines whether a person actually possesses it, is the degree of his independence.

Conclusion

The novel “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand has a happy fate. Reviews about him are numerous, there is an impressive filmography, the book's circulation exceeds 7 million copies. Is this a coincidence? To a large extent, the philosophy of objectivism inherent in the novel is attractive to readers as a red thread runs through Ayn Rand’s quotes. "The Fountainhead" is a novel that everyone should read. This will help to realize the obvious truth that individualism is indeed one of the engines of progress. After all, the ego drives scientists, people of creative professions, athletes, and skilled craftsmen.

In this article we will touch upon the work of Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum, who left on a visa in 1925 to study in the United States and received citizenship here. The daughter of a pharmacist, with a lot of effort, “made herself” on American soil, turning into a recognized literary classic and philosopher Ayn Rand.

"The Fountainhead" is a novel she wrote in 1943. At first it was unfavorably received by critics, but after a couple of years this work, having turned into a bestseller, took a prominent place in American literary classics. What prompted Ayn Rand to write the novel? The idea of ​​the value of the human genius, the human ego for the whole society, individualism opposing dullness, a protest against the execution in 1937 in distant Russia of Lev Bekkerman, who was Alice’s first love?

Main hero and heroine

The main character of Ayn Rand's novel "The Fountainhead" is a creative man, Howard Roark. This extraordinary image reflects the philosophical views of the writer, which can be very briefly described as rational individualism. Our architect considers it ridiculous to consult with others, because a person should have a clear idea of ​​what he wants to achieve in life. In contrast to the “team”, “ant” collectivism, Roark feels a deep personal need to create and change the world. He is charismatic, principled and consistent in defending his views on the need to have the necessary degree of freedom.

The book "The Source" presents a complex central female character. Ayn Rand portrays the business-minded young woman Dominique Francon, who also does not betray her self. Before finding family happiness in her marriage to Howard Roark, she was married twice - to Peter Keating and Gail Wynand.

Inner circle of friends

The person unable to choose the protagonist's path is his friend and fellow student Peter Keating. Unfortunately, he wants to follow only the external side of success, without having the inner core for this. Using his example, Ayn Rand shows the story of most professionals with broken destinies. “The Source” reveals the reason for his failure in life - the abandonment of his “I” for the sake of the interests of the “right people”. The writer clearly illuminated the cause of his crisis - disorientation in life, the replacement of the real desire to become a great desire to be considered such by other people.

Gail Wynand, owner of the Znamya newspaper, is a more complete person. However, possessing the qualities of an organizer and leader, he gradually weakens and levels out his potential, following the opinion of representatives of influential sections of society. In the past, when building a career, he was an individualist. Recalling the beginning of his career, the cool editor joked that the obvious minus (no one helped him then) gave rise to a plus (but no one interfered). However, at the end of the novel, having lost his ego for the sake of his environment, Wynand also suffers a fiasco.

Ayn Rand portrays in the novel Howard's open ideological opponent, the critic and journalist Ellsworth Toohey, a collectivist by his convictions who acts by unscrupulous methods. This is a low and vile person.

Unfinished college, unpromising place of work

Since his youth, Howard Roark has uncompromisingly followed his own path in life. Taking architecture as his life's work, he abandons classical methods of building design, coming into conflict with the teachers of the Stanton Institute of Technology. He prefers to be excluded, but remain true to his ideals. The young idealist finds in New York a little-known, but self-sufficient and creative architect, Henry Cameron, whose work he considers worthy and promising. However, this bureau soon becomes bankrupt. Howard changes several jobs in different companies. Not yielding to the attempts of his colleagues to influence his vision of architecture, he prefers to quit it and get a job as a stonemason.

Personality of Peter Keating

The book "The Source" shows another, pragmatic beginning of life's journey. Peter Keating, by contrast, follows the beaten path. He graduates from college and goes to work at a top architectural agency. The young careerist does not feel any mental discomfort while pleasing his clients. At the same time, his attitude to the art of architecture is formal. He spends his mental strength on achieving external gloss in his work. When faced with a problem, Peter knows that Howard Roark's advice will certainly help him.

The beginning of Howard and Dominique's acquaintance

The theme of love is the highlight of many novels, and Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is no exception. Reviews indicate that human relationships are masterfully depicted in it. Dominique, the daughter of Guy Francon, owner of the quarry where Howard Roark works, sympathizes with him. However, the interaction between these two young people with strong egos reaches a dead end, ending in rough sex. The girl did not even recognize the name of the extravagant stonemason.

Trap for the maverick

Roark returns to New York to work in his specialty. Finally his work is being noticed. However, Ellsword Toohey, driven by his rejection of the protagonist’s personality, decides to destroy him with newspaper slander. His calculation is correct. First, the journalist provokes Roark into unconventional architectural creativity. To do this, he persuades customer Hopton Stoddard to entrust Howard with the construction of a temple of the human spirit. He creates a truly original project, and it includes the figure of a naked woman as an architectural element. (They met again in New York with Dominique, and she posed for him to create a sculpture.)

Ellsword convinces Hopton of the performer's incompetence, and he initiates a trial. "Traditional" architects who dislike Roark's "black sheep" testify against him. Dominique's intercession at her trial did not help. Howard was convicted. By the way, his former classmate Peter Keating also testified against the accused. Ellsword is triumphant.

Personal life Dominique

After the trial, Dominique Francon, trying to sort out his feelings for Roark, decides to end the relationship. She marries Peter Keating. She does her best to help him make a career in an architecture company. And this goes so far that the woman, by agreement with her husband, is given to the editor of a famous newspaper, Gale Wynand. He falls in love with a young woman and, in turn, proposes to her. Dominique, disappointed in Peter, agrees. The ex-husband receives an expensive order as compensation for moral costs.

However, despite the trial, clients turn to Roark. Fate is often ironic. By chance, one of her hoaxes occurs. To build his new family nest, the successful editor Wynand voluntarily chooses an architect whose buildings he always likes, namely Howard Roark. They become friends. The businessman does not know that his wife and the architect previously had a relationship.

Peter uses Roarke

At this time, careerist Keating manages to receive the task of developing a promising and complex government project - the development of the Cortlandt area. Economy-class houses should subsequently become the standard for such construction in various regions. Peter turns to Roarke for help. He, being interested in such work as a professional, agrees to do it anonymously and free of charge. The agreement is simple: Keating must build a building that strictly corresponds to the developed project.

However, Howard, returning from vacation, discovered that the agreement had been broken. His ego is bruised. He angrily destroys the constructed building by blowing it up. At the same time, Dominic distracts the watchman. Wynand's newspaper first supported Roark, and then, under pressure from the union, opposed it.

Happy end

The denouement of the novel confirms the idea that a talented person is talented not only in his professional field. A brilliant speech by the accused in his own defense convinces the judges of his innocence. Roark talks powerfully about the role of ego and individualism in true creativity. Dominic and Howard get married. Ayn Rand's quote that only a person who loves himself can fully understand and love another is confirmed.

Wynand's newspaper closes due to problems. The rich man asks Roark to design a skyscraper for himself as a monument to the spiritual power that he himself might have, with the former editor admitting that Howard has it.

The novel ends with a scene of the meeting of the Roarks and Gale Wynand on the roof of an already constructed building.

The main idea of ​​the novel

The only criterion of the value of the people around him that Howard Roark recognizes is their personal independence. Ayn Rand presents this cornerstone idea to her readers. "The Source" is a book about human dignity, about its primary meaning for any person. And the only criterion, the litmus test that determines whether a person actually possesses it, is the degree of his independence.

Conclusion

The novel “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand has a happy fate. Reviews about him are numerous, there is an impressive filmography, the book's circulation exceeds 7 million copies. Is this a coincidence? To a large extent, readers are attracted by the intellectual potential inherent in the novel. The philosophy of objectivism runs like a red thread through Ayn Rand’s quotes. "The Fountainhead" is a novel that everyone should read. This will help to realize the obvious truth that individualism is indeed one of the engines of progress. After all, the ego drives scientists, people of creative professions, athletes, and skilled craftsmen.

• Raskolnikov's theory in the novel "Crime and Punishment" and its debunking

2.1 Types of historical sources

The first level of classification of historical sources, which allows us to organize their entirety, is classification by type.

Let's compare two approaches to identifying types of historical sources - L. N. Pushkarev and I. D. Kovalchenko. These approaches were developed in the 70–80s of the XX century, but still remain relevant.

L. N. Pushkarev devoted a special study to the problem of classification, the task of which is to theoretically substantiate the historically established system of classification of historical sources. This is important to emphasize: the study of L. N. Pushkarev, in contrast to the work of I. D. Kovalchenko, is an attempt at theoretical reflection of the division of sources into groups that had already been established in historical science, which, as the author rightly emphasizes, did not have clearly fixed names: identical according to the composition of the group they could be called type, genus, group, species etc. In our opinion, it was precisely this approach that allowed L.N. Pushkarev, despite the fact that methodological basis His work was the so-called theory of reflection, obtaining positive research results, especially in terms of analyzing the types of historical sources.

L.N. Pushkarev proposed to fix the system: type - genus - type of historical sources. The researcher defines the first stage of classification as follows:

...by types of historical sources we mean the broadest categories of sources that differ from each other by the very principle of storing and encoding information, i.e. by its most general property that predetermines its source value. This most general, initially inherent property of a source is<…>the result of the reflection and embodiment of reality in the source is the information that a person has generated. How and in what form this information is encoded in the source and what source study significance it has, how this should be reflected in the study methodology of this type source - these are the questions that arise when determining various types sources. Consequently, the basis for dividing sources into types is the method of encoding the information contained in the source.

Using the introduced criterion, L. N. Pushkarev identifies the following types of historical sources: written, material, oral (folklore), ethnographic, language data (linguistic), film and photo documents, sound documents.

L. N. Pushkarev’s classification obviously does not cover all historical sources: for example, it lacks a huge corpus of visual sources, the importance of which in modern historical science is increasing in connection with the visual turn in historical knowledge. In addition, it is difficult to identify a specific “way of encoding information” in such types of historical sources as oral, linguistic and ethnographic. In order to acquire the qualities of historical sources, these components human life and activities must be objectified, that is, if we use the conceptual apparatus of L. N. Pushkarev, their information must be recoded in written or material form or in the form of a film, photo or sound document.

L.N. Pushkarev, focusing on the classification of written historical sources, proposes dividing them into two groups - two types:

Historians and source scholars who study primarily written sources have long noticed that this type of source is quite clearly divided into two large categories. One of them includes those written sources that were created as a coherent narrative about the past or as a story about the present, intended for contemporaries or descendants. In another category, researchers included those written sources that were created by a person or society in the process of his personal and public life, to meet current needs, as a result of his economic, political, cultural, etc. activities.

<…>the internal feature that distinguishes documentary sources from narrative ones is the predominance of the reflection or embodiment of reality in the source.

Any source both reflects and embodies historical reality at the same time; it represents the dialectical, indissoluble unity of these two processes. The whole point, therefore, is which of these two processes - reflection or embodiment - predominates in a given source. If the source tells more about the past that happened before the origin of the source itself, or tells about the present in the form of a coherent story, we have a narrative source; if the author of the source does not set out to give a coherent account of events, but simply records what is happening, then we are dealing with a documentary source.

Such reasoning by L. N. Pushkarev, in our opinion, obviously reproduces the traditional division into remains and traditions, the stability of which the author himself drew attention to. The division of written historical sources into two types - narrative (narrative) and documentary - has not become widespread. Although, in our opinion, in the context of modern humanities it can gain development, but on a different conceptual basis - the theory of narrative.

I. D. Kovalchenko made an attempt to define the concept of the type of historical sources as strictly as possible on the basis of information theory:

Social information is recorded by one or another technical means on certain material media in the form of certain sign systems or natural photo, film and artistic reproduction of reality. This allows you to store and transmit information. For meaningful perception and targeted use of social information, the most convenient is information expressed in symbolic, primarily linguistic (natural and artificial) systems.

Based on this, I. D. Kovalchenko offers the following basis for the classification of historical sources and their typology:

The classification of sources can be approached from the perspective of three aspects of information - pragmatic, semantic and syntactic. The most common of them is syntactic. Based on it, we can identify the first most general level of classification of historical sources. According to the methods and forms of reflecting reality, the entire set of historical sources is clearly divided into four categories (or types): physical, written, visual(visual-graphic, visual-artistic and visual-natural) and phonic[emphasis added. – M.R.].

From these positions, I. D. Kovalchenko criticizes the classification of historical sources traditionally established in historiography, recorded, among other things, in the “Soviet Historical Encyclopedia”:

The division of the entire set of historical sources into physical, written, oral, ethnographic, linguistic (folklore), photographic film documents and phonodocuments, which was widespread until recently in Soviet source studies, seems inconsistent due to the ambiguity of the principles and criteria for their identification. Some groups are distinguished by the form of reflection of reality, others by the method of recording information, and others by the object of reflection.

I. D. Kovalchenko gives the following argument:

It should be noted that if information that arose in a particular era can function both recorded on certain material media and unfixed (oral), then in historical sources it appears in a recorded form. For example, folklore data undoubtedly contains valuable information about the past, but in order to become a source and be used by a historian, it must be materially recorded. Most often, this is a written record, and later, with the advent of the corresponding technical means, and sound recording. The same applies to other types of unfixed social information. Consequently, the historical source as a carrier of social information contains fixed information.

The significance of this argument cannot be ignored: indeed, a historian cannot use information that is not recorded on some material medium. But one cannot help but admit something else: for a historian, it is important not only (and often not so much) how information is recorded, but also how it existed over the centuries. It is obvious, for example, that sources that were originally created as written cannot but differ from folklore sources that existed for centuries in oral form and only later (often in the 19th century) recorded in writing.

Apparently, it is for this reason that I. D. Kovalchenko’s classification has not received recognition from the professional community. The typology of historical sources described by L.N. Pushkarev basically retains its significance. We only note that neither L.N. Pushkarev nor I.D. Kovalchenko, for obvious reasons, identified a type (and possibly two different types) sources, which is becoming more and more higher value, – so-called machine-readable documents (from punched cards and punched tapes to modern media such as CDs or flash cards) and Internet resources, some of which are created directly as Internet sources, and some can be considered as a specific form of publication of historical sources. The specifics of this type(s) of historical sources currently remain virtually unstudied, despite the fact that the problem was posed by K. B. Gelman-Vinogradov (1925–2010) back at the turn of the 70–80s of the 20th century.

Among the selected types of historical sources special place written historical sources occupy a place in historical knowledge. This fact does not require proof - just turn to the scientific reference apparatus of any scientific work history to verify this. So why are written historical sources so significant?

§ 4. Typical method of interpreting historical sources Due to the complex nature of historical sources, when interpreting them, one cannot be content with one of the above methods: usually combining psychological method with the technical, the historian tries