A summary of Georgy Polonsky’s "The Tutor"

Written in 1996, this novella is a classic resort romance set on the Riga seaside in the late 1970s. The author builds the narrative around the social and intellectual contrast between a brilliantly educated Muscovite and a local lifeguard. The plot revolves around the protagonist’s attempts to prepare the young woman for university entrance. The text is replete with precise, everyday details of Soviet Jurmala.

In 1987, based on this story, director Leonid Makarychev made a feature film of the same name at the Lenfilm studio.

Meeting on the beach

Evgeny Ogaryshev is twenty-six years old. He graduated with honors from the philosophy department of Moscow State University. He is vacationing at the Nezhdanova Actors’ House with his grandmother. Ksenia Lvovna Zamyatina is a renowned former actress. Evgeny is recovering from a serious car accident. He limps, uses an ebonite pole, and is embarrassed to swim in public. He prefers to read Karamzin’s works on a lounge chair.

A girl’s voice is heard regularly on the beach. A lifeguard, clearly bored, reads a medical instruction on chest compressions. Soon, Evgeny hears her shouting rudely through a megaphone at a man with an inflatable frog. The girl advises the swimmer not to swim to Sweden. Intrigued, Evgeny goes to the lifeguard station under the pretext of looking for his lost sunglasses.

There he meets eighteen-year-old Katya Batistova. She wears a striped shirt and an orange jacket. On the walls of her work booth hang photographs of actors relaxing with dedications. Later, Evgeny spots Katya in the library. She’s playing a prank on her mother, the administrator on duty, Tamara Filippovna, over the phone. Katya imitates the capricious voice of the famous actress Doronina and complains about a broken samovar. Evgeny is captivated by this prank and invites his new acquaintance for a cocktail.

Initial contacts and offers of assistance

At the bar, Evgeny tries to show off his erudition. He quotes the dialectic of Heraclitus, but Katya perceives his philosophical thought as a banal weather forecast. A cheeky group approaches their table. Vacationing Karina and aging actor Vitaly treat Katya condescendingly, as if she were an amusing beach attribute. Evgeny is irritated by this treatment and quickly leaves.

That evening, Evgeny returns to the station. He witnesses Katya’s confrontation with local hooligans. She bravely drives away her drunk classmate, Otkidach, with a thrown stone. Impressed, Evgeny invites Katya to become her teacher. He plans to teach first-grade "G" in the fall for a science experiment and is willing to practice his teaching skills. Katya agrees.

A war film is being filmed on the beach. The director is preparing a complex shot featuring a German officer and a girl in the water. A thoughtful Evgeny accidentally steps over the fence into the frame. The film crew and onlookers laugh at the lame young man. Actor Vitaly makes snide jokes at his expense. Katya decisively cuts him off and runs after Evgeny.

While out picking blueberries, Katya kisses Evgeny on the cheek in gratitude for his attention. She admits to feeling unsure about her future.

Learning difficulties

Yevgeny’s grandmother suspects her grandson’s new passion. Ksenia Lvovna agrees to audition Katya if she learns a fable, a poem, and some prose. Her pragmatic friend, Inka, advises Katya to take advantage of the visitor from the capital. Inka believes that Zamyatina’s family connections guarantee easy admission to the theater institute.

Katya’s mother learns of her daughter’s suitor’s high status. Tamara Filippovna sends fruit and a huge assortment of chocolates to Zamyatina’s room through her maid, Aina. The elderly actress immediately figures out the maneuver and drily returns the offerings to the reception desk.

Evgeniy and Katya’s lessons are torturous. She reads Belinsky’s articles and Stanislavsky’s books, but is often distracted by ladybugs or conversations about outfits. Evgeniy is irritated by her superficiality, although he continues to feel a strong physical attraction. One day on the beach, Vitaly tries another unfortunate joke. Evgeniy firmly stops the actor, threatening to hit him in the face with a stick.

Conflicts and rapprochement

A huge portrait of Katya hugging the sailor Kostik is on display in the window of a central photo studio. Katya lies to Evgeny about the photo, claiming it was taken by accident, just for the sake of naval bravado. Soon, Kostik’s brother, the stern Boris, arrives at the rescue station on a motorcycle. He brings a gold ring from the sailor. Katya rejects the gift. Boris, realizing the reason for her refusal, hits her hard.

Katya lies to Evgeny about the origin of her bruises, blaming them on an accidental blow from a partner’s oar. She invites a tutor to her home. Inka helps create the right atmosphere: she lights candles and plays a Mireille Mathieu record. Katya puts on an expensive robe someone gave her. Evgeny tries to discuss the Stanislavsky system, but Katya confuses drama theater with opera.

She begins to openly seduce Evgeny. In a fit of revelation, Katya confesses to deception. She has no interest in the stage or the long hours of school. She dreams of moving to the capital and asks her grandmother to arrange for her to enter the university through connections. Katya sings a cheerful ditty about an aspen tree that dreams of becoming an orange.

Evgeny realizes his true function. He sees himself as a convenient means of transport for Katya’s return to Moscow. His romantic illusions are shattered by the girl’s stern utilitarianism. At that moment, a fire breaks out at the rescue station, sparked by a forgotten candle. Katya douses the flames with a bucket of water and laughs loudly, hysterically. That night, the two become intimate, but the act brings no relief.

Breakup and departure

The next day, Zamyatina plays billiards with a gray-haired actor. She receives a short note from her grandson. Yevgeny announces his sudden departure. He acknowledges his grandmother’s rightness and asks for Katya’s help if she decides to take the acting exams.

Katya learns of his departure from a phone call from her mother. Inka tries to console her friend. She rudely mocks Evgeny’s physical disabilities and his strange decision to work with children. Katya angrily sends Inka away. Left alone, Katya collapses on the cot and sobs, clutching Evgeny’s forgotten sunglasses.

Evgeny is leaving on the Riga-Moscow branded train. A drunken fellow passenger engages him in a long monologue about the moon. The man quotes a classic: "There’s a moon in the sky so young that it’s risky to let it out without companions." His compartment neighbor laments at length about human frivolity.

Epilogue

The author of the story goes beyond objective narrative. He adds personal commentary in parentheses. A long-held secret is revealed: the narrator himself was unrequitedly in love with Katya Batistova that distant summer.

The text takes us to 1995. The author accidentally spots Katya and Evgeny on Strastnoy Boulevard in Moscow. They are engaged in an animated conversation, and the girl quickly writes something in a notebook. Their status remains unclear. A year later, an acquaintance of the author brings new information from the United States. Katya lives in Boston, owns a small hair salon, and is married to a Polish immigrant. She has a twenty-year-old daughter.

The author also makes inquiries about the fate of Evgeny Ogaryshev. A former Moscow State University graduate, he works as a simple caretaker at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. He sits in the halls among the masterpieces, contemplating much alone. This is where the story finally ends.