Literature Ancient Rus' arose in the 11th century. and developed over seven centuries until the Petrine era. Old Russian literature is a single whole with all the diversity of genres, themes, and images. This literature is the focus of Russian spirituality and patriotism. On the pages of these works there are conversations about the most important philosophical, moral problems, about which heroes of all centuries think, speak, reflect. The works form a love for the Fatherland and one’s people, show the beauty of the Russian land, therefore these works touch the innermost strings of our hearts.
The significance of Old Russian literature as the basis for the development of new Russian literature is very great. Thus, images, ideas, even the style of writings were inherited by A.S. Pushkin, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy.
Old Russian literature did not arise out of nowhere. Its appearance was prepared by the development of language, oral folk art, cultural ties with Byzantium and Bulgaria and due to the adoption of Christianity as a single religion. First literary works, appeared in Rus', translated. Those books that were necessary for worship were translated.
The first original works, that is, written by the Eastern Slavs themselves, date back to the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th centuries. V. The formation of Russian national literature took place, its traditions and features were formed, determining its specific features, a certain dissimilarity with the literature of our days.
The purpose of this work is to show the features of Old Russian literature and its main genres.
Features of Old Russian literature
1. Historicism of content.
Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's imagination. Authors of works of fiction, even if they describe the true events of real people, conjecture a lot. But in Ancient Rus' everything was completely different. The ancient Russian scribe only talked about what, in his opinion, really happened. Only in the 17th century. Everyday stories with fictional characters and plots appeared in Rus'.
Both the ancient Russian scribe and his readers firmly believed that the events described actually happened. So the chronicles were a peculiar thing for the people of Ancient Rus' legal document. After the death of Moscow Prince Vasily Dmitrievich in 1425, his younger brother Yuri Dmitrievich and son Vasily Vasilyevich began to argue about their rights to the throne. Both princes turned to the Tatar Khan to arbitrate their dispute. At the same time, Yuri Dmitrievich, defending his rights to reign in Moscow, referred to ancient chronicles, which reported that power had previously passed from the prince-father not to his son, but to his brother.
2. Handwritten nature of existence.
Another feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of its existence. Even the appearance of the printing press in Rus' changed the situation little until the middle of the 18th century. The existence of literary monuments in manuscripts led to a special veneration of the book. What even separate treatises and instructions were written about. But on the other hand, handwritten existence led to instability ancient Russian works literature. Those works that have come down to us are the result of the work of many, many people: the author, editor, copyist, and the work itself could last for several centuries. Therefore, in scientific terminology, there are such concepts as “manuscript” (handwritten text) and “list” (rewritten work). The manuscript may contain lists of various works and may be written either by the author himself or by copyists. Another fundamental concept in textual criticism is the term “edition,” i.e., the purposeful reworking of a monument caused by socio-political events, changes in the function of the text, or differences in the language of the author and editor.
Closely related to the existence of a work in manuscripts is such a specific feature of Old Russian literature as the problem of authorship.
The author's principle in Old Russian literature is muted, implicit. Old Russian scribes were not thrifty with other people's texts. When rewriting, the texts were processed: some phrases or episodes were excluded from them or inserted into them, and stylistic “decorations” were added. Sometimes the author's ideas and assessments were even replaced by the opposite ones. The lists of one work differed significantly from each other.
Old Russian scribes did not at all strive to reveal their involvement in literary composition. Many monuments remained anonymous; the authorship of others was established by researchers based on indirect evidence. So it is impossible to attribute to someone else the writings of Epiphanius the Wise, with his sophisticated “weaving of words.” The style of Ivan the Terrible’s messages is inimitable, boldly mixing eloquence and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of simple conversation.
It happens that in a manuscript one or another text was signed with the name of an authoritative scribe, which may or may not correspond to reality. Thus, among the works attributed to the famous preacher Saint Cyril of Turov, many, apparently, do not belong to him: the name of Cyril of Turov gave these works additional authority.
The anonymity of literary monuments is also due to the fact that the ancient Russian “writer” did not consciously try to be original, but tried to show himself as traditional as possible, that is, to comply with all the rules and regulations of the established canon.
4. Literary etiquette.
Well-known literary critic, researcher of ancient Russian literature, Academician D.S. Likhachev proposed a special term to designate the canon in the monuments of medieval Russian literature - “literary etiquette”.
Literary etiquette consists of:
From the idea of how this or that course of events should have taken place;
From ideas about how the actor should have behaved in accordance with his position;
From ideas about what words the writer should have described what was happening.
We have before us the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior and the etiquette of words. The hero is supposed to behave this way, and the author is supposed to describe the hero only in appropriate terms.
Main genres of ancient Russian literature
The literature of modern times is subject to the laws of the “poetics of the genre.” It was this category that began to dictate the ways of creating a new text. But in ancient Russian literature the genre did not play such an important role.
A sufficient amount of research has been devoted to the genre uniqueness of Old Russian literature, but there is still no clear classification of genres. However, some genres immediately stood out in ancient Russian literature.
1. Hagiographic genre.
Life - a description of the life of a saint.
Russian hagiographic literature includes hundreds of works, the first of which were written already in the 11th century. The Life, which came to Rus' from Byzantium along with the adoption of Christianity, became the main genre of Old Russian literature, the literary form in which the spiritual ideals of Ancient Rus' were clothed.
The compositional and verbal forms of life have been refined over the centuries. The high theme - a story about life that embodies ideal service to the world and God - determines the image of the author and the style of the narrative. The author of the life tells the story excitedly; he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic and his admiration for his righteous life. The author's emotionality and excitement color the entire narrative in lyrical tones and contribute to the creation of a solemn mood. This atmosphere is also created by the style of narration - high solemn, full of quotations from the Holy Scriptures.
When writing a life, the hagiographer (the author of the life) was obliged to follow a number of rules and canons. The composition of a correct life should be three-fold: introduction, story about the life and deeds of the saint from birth to death, praise. In the introduction, the author asks forgiveness from readers for their inability to write, for the rudeness of the narrative, etc. The introduction was followed by the life itself. It cannot be called a “biography” of a saint in the full sense of the word. The author of the life selects from his life only those facts that do not contradict the ideals of holiness. The story about the life of a saint is freed from everything everyday, concrete, and accidental. In a life compiled according to all the rules, there are few dates, exact geographical names, or names of historical figures. The action of the life takes place, as it were, outside of historical time and specific space; it unfolds against the backdrop of eternity. Abstraction is one of the features of the hagiographic style.
At the end of the life there should be praise to the saint. This is one of the most important parts of life, which required great literary art and a good knowledge of rhetoric.
The oldest Russian hagiographic monuments are two lives of princes Boris and Gleb and the Life of Theodosius of Pechora.
2. Eloquence.
Eloquence is an area of creativity characteristic of the most ancient period of the development of our literature. Monuments of church and secular eloquence are divided into two types: teaching and solemn.
Solemn eloquence required depth of concept and great literary skill. The speaker needed the ability to construct a speech effectively in order to capture the listener, set him in a high mood corresponding to the topic, and shock him with pathos. There was a special term for a solemn speech - “word”. (There was no terminological unity in ancient Russian literature. A military story could also be called “the Word.”) Speeches were not only pronounced, but written and distributed in numerous copies.
Solemn eloquence did not pursue narrow practical goals; it required the formulation of problems of broad social, philosophical and theological scope. The main reasons for creating “words” are theological issues, issues of war and peace, defense of the borders of the Russian land, internal and foreign policy, the struggle for cultural and political independence.
The most ancient monument of solemn eloquence is the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, written between 1037 and 1050.
Teaching eloquence is teachings and conversations. They are usually small in volume, often devoid of rhetorical embellishments, and written in the Old Russian language, which was generally accessible to people of that time. Church leaders and princes could deliver teachings.
Teachings and conversations have purely practical purposes and contain information necessary for a person. “Instruction to the Brethren” by Luke Zhidyata, Bishop of Novgorod from 1036 to 1059, contains a list of rules of behavior that a Christian should adhere to: do not take revenge, do not utter “shameful” words. Go to church and behave quietly in it, honor your elders, judge truthfully, honor your prince, do not curse, keep all the commandments of the Gospel.
Theodosius of Pechora is the founder of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. He owns eight teachings to the brethren, in which Theodosius reminds the monks of the rules of monastic behavior: not to be late for church, make three prostrations, maintain decorum and order when singing prayers and psalms, and bow to each other when meeting. In his teachings, Theodosius of Pechora demands complete renunciation from the world, abstinence, and constant prayer and vigil. The abbot sternly denounces idleness, money-grubbing, and intemperance in food.
3. Chronicle.
Chronicles were weather records (by “years” - by “years”). The annual entry began with the words: “Into the summer.” After this there was a story about events and incidents that, from the point of view of the chronicler, were worthy of the attention of posterity. These could be military campaigns, raids by steppe nomads, natural disasters: droughts, crop failures, etc., as well as simply unusual incidents.
It is thanks to the work of chroniclers that modern historians have amazing opportunity look into the distant past.
Most often, the ancient Russian chronicler was a learned monk who sometimes spent many years compiling the chronicle. In those days, it was customary to start telling stories about history from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had to first of all find, put in order, and often rewrite the work of his predecessors. If the compiler of the chronicle had at his disposal not one, but several chronicle texts at once, then he had to “reduce” them, that is, combine them, choosing from each what he considered necessary to include in his own work. When materials relating to the past were collected, the chronicler moved on to presenting the events of his time. The result of this great work was the chronicle collection. After some time, other chroniclers continued this collection.
Apparently, the first major monument of ancient Russian chronicle writing was the chronicle code compiled in the 70s of the 11th century. The compiler of this code is believed to have been the abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nikon the Great (? - 1088).
Nikon's work formed the basis of another chronicle, which was compiled in the same monastery two decades later. In the scientific literature it received the code name "Initial arch". Its nameless compiler replenished Nikon's collection not only with news of recent years, but also chronicle information from other Russian cities.
"The Tale of Bygone Years"
Based on the chronicles of the 11th century tradition. The greatest chronicle monument of the era of Kievan Rus was born - “The Tale of Bygone Years”.
It was compiled in Kyiv in the 10s. 12th century According to some historians, its probable compiler was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor, also known for his other works. When creating The Tale of Bygone Years, its compiler used numerous materials with which he supplemented the Primary Code. These materials included Byzantine chronicles, texts of treaties between Rus' and Byzantium, monuments of translated and ancient Russian literature, and oral traditions.
The compiler of “The Tale of Bygone Years” set as his goal not just to tell about the past of Rus', but also to determine the place of the Eastern Slavs among the European and Asian peoples.
The chronicler talks in detail about the settlement of Slavic peoples in ancient times, about the settlement of territories by the Eastern Slavs that would later become part of Old Russian state, about the morals and customs of different tribes. The Tale of Bygone Years emphasizes not only the antiquity of the Slavic peoples, but also the unity of their culture, language and writing, created in the 9th century. brothers Cyril and Methodius.
The chronicler considers the adoption of Christianity to be the most important event in the history of Rus'. The story of the first Russian Christians, the baptism of Rus', the spread of the new faith, the construction of churches, the emergence of monasticism, and the success of Christian enlightenment occupies a central place in the Tale.
The wealth of historical and political ideas reflected in The Tale of Bygone Years suggests that its compiler was not just an editor, but also a talented historian, a deep thinker, and a brilliant publicist. Many chroniclers of subsequent centuries turned to the experience of the creator of the Tale, sought to imitate him and almost necessarily placed the text of the monument at the beginning of each new chronicle.
1.Borders and periodization of ancient Russian literature. Characteristics of the main stages.
According to many researchers, ancient Russian literature developed in the 10th century, but the works of this period have not reached us. Old Russian literature is the literature of the Russian Middle Ages, which has gone through a long seven-century path in its development, from the 11th century. to the 17th century
Already in the middle of the 17th century, new trends in literature began, oriented towards the West. But it was decided to include all the literature of the 17th century in the study and consider it as a transitional period. During the period of the formation of literature, its “apprenticeship”, the focus of political and cultural life was Kyiv, “the mother of Russian cities”, therefore the literature of the 11th - first third of the 12th centuries. usually called literature of Kievan Rus This period is characterized by the relative unity of literature, which is determined by the interconnection of the two main cultural centers of the state - Kyiv and Novgorod. This is a period of apprenticeship, with Byzantium and Bulgaria acting as mentors. Translated literature predominates. It is first dominated by religious texts, and then secular literature appears. The main theme is the theme of the Russian land and its position in the family of Christian peoples.
Literature from the era of feudal fragmentation (second third of the 12th-first third of the 13th century). This period is associated with the emergence of regional literary centers in Vladimir, Rostov, Smolensk, etc. There has been a process of “dissimilarity” of the styles of Russian chronicle writing, hagiography, and oratory. The monumental-historical style dominates in literature. The most significant literary monuments of this period are “The Prayer of Daniel the Prisoner”, “The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu”, “Zadonshchina”, “Walking across the Three Seas”, “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia”.
Literature of the era Tatar-Mongol invasion (second third of 13-1380). During this period, the main theme of literature is heroic, and the monumental-historical style acquires a tragic connotation and lyrical emotion.
Literary era of the Battle of Kulikovo (1380-80s of the 15th century). This is a time of creative quest and discovery in literature, which is caused by the rise of national consciousness and the rise of Moscow. A new moral ideal of the era is emerging, which is reflected in the lives of the saints Epiphanius the Wise. The reader's interest in fiction and historical-journalistic literature is growing.
Literature of the Moscow centralized state (late 15th-16th century). This stage was characterized by an unprecedented flourishing of journalism, because there were many problems in the state. Tradition begins to prevail over the new, literature is going through a period of new monumentalism, and interest in the biographies of historical figures is emerging.
Literature of the transitional stage (17th century). During this period there is a clash of new and old principles artistic creativity. The development of the individual principle is visible in everything. After Nikon's church reform, literature was divided into democratic and official. The autobiographical principle is rapidly growing, and attention to the person’s personality appears.
2. The main features of Old Russian literature and its artistic method.
The literature of other Rus' set as its goal the creation of a spiritual ideal of man. There were almost no portraits in literature (only those based on comparison or by mixing internal and external characteristics person), the landscape was used quite rarely and only for a symbolic purpose (with the exception of the genre of walking). There was no satire in the works, there were only elements of humor and irony, only in the 17th century. satirical stories appeared. The purpose of writing any work was to teach. Up to the 17th century. there was no conscious fiction in literature; historicism was mandatory in works. But the literature was filled with legends. Literature also had obligatory features: journalisticism, patriotism, and traditionalism. Old Russian literature was anonymous and handwritten. The author of most works is unknown.
3. The originality of the system of genres of ancient Russian literature and the characteristics of the main genres. Article by N.I. Prokofiev “On the worldview of the Russian Middle Ages and the system of genres of Russian literature XI - X V1st century."
In ancient Russian literature, several systems of genres existed and interacted: folklore and business writing, translated and original literature, both liturgical and secular in nature. The basis for identifying genres was the object of the image. Lyrical genres: teachings and messages. Teaching is a genre designed to convey a system of political, religious or moral views to listeners or readers. They were didactic and solemn. An epistle is a genre intended for telling about events or expressing thoughts to an addressee remote from the author. It consists of 4 parts: escript (external address), prescript (introduction, appeal), semantheme (content of the message), clause (good wish). There were also inserted genres, for example, crying, praise, prayer. Epic genres: hagiography is a genre telling about the life of a real person, canonized after death. Composition of the life: introduction (self-deprecation of the author, many topoi, appeal to God for help), central narrative (story or mention of parents, story about childhood, the life of the hero, his death and posthumous miracles), conclusion (praise or prayer to the saint). Walking is a genre that tells about a real-life journey. There are different types: pilgrimage, merchant, embassy, and exploration. In composition, it is a chain of travel sketches connected chronologically or topographically. A historical story is a genre that tells about a historical event. It is divided into a military story and a story about princely and boyar crimes. Composition - preparation of the event, narration about the event, consequences of the event. The narrator, as a rule, is a mysterious person. There is also another epic genre - the parable. Symbolic genres – vision, miracle, sign. Other genres are chronicle (could include all genres), patericon (stories about the life of monks).
4.Genre of teaching in literatureXI- XIIcenturies Solemn teachings of Hilarion and Cyril of Turov.
Teaching is a genre intended to convey a certain system of ideas to the reader or listener.
1 type - ceremonial (church and state problems)
Type 2 - didactic (moral and everyday problems)
The monument of oratorical prose of Kievan Rus belongs to the solemn eloquence “A Sermon on the Law and Grace of Metropolitan Hilarion” - affirms the idea of equality of Rus' and the Russian people with all other Christian states and peoples. Comparison of the Old and New Testaments. Assessment of the actions of Vladimir. Teaching against Judaism. The word is full of quotes and detailed comparisons from biblical texts; it activates the reader’s perception due to the abundance of rhetorical figures.
Teachings of Kirill of Turov. See summary 7 Kirill is an original thinker and artist. Perhaps, until Derzhavin, a writer of such strength, significance and height of moral feeling as Kirill, the conscience of his difficult and turbulent time, had not appeared in Russian literature. He subtly uses the wealth of traditional poetic means to create a text that is polyphonic in meaning and feeling. Here the lofty and everyday plans seem to coexist, signifying the endless struggle between good and evil.
5. Characteristics of the genre of life. “The Life of Theodosius of Pechersk”: composition, image of the main character, style. Genre originality of “The Tale of Boris and Gleb.”
Life- a genre that tells about the life of a historical person who was canonized after death. A strict canon of writing, 3 parts in the composition: introduction (author’s self-deprecation, prayer, about sources), biography of the saint (childhood, parents, growing up, life path, exploits, about death and posthumous miracles), praise or prayer to the saint.
About the works, see in the future
The problem of the time of creation, the genre originality of “The Tale of Boris and Gleb”.
A whole series of works in Russian literature is dedicated to Boris and Gleb. In addition to the chronicle stories, it includes the “Reading about the life and destruction” of Boris and Gleb, written by Nestor, the anonymous “Tale and Passion and Praise” to the saints, which in the Assumption collection is adjoined by the “Tale of Miracles”, which arose on the basis of records compiled at different times. The question of the relationship and chronology of individual works that make up the Boris-Gleb cycle is very complex. There are several versions. According to the first, first the “Tale” arose (at the end of the reign of Yaroslav the Wise), then the “Tale of Miracles”, and on this basis Nestor wrote “Reading”. According to the second version, “Reading” first appeared (at the end of the 11th century), together with the chronicle story, serving as a source for the author of the “Tale.” But there is no consensus. The most literary monument of the Boris-Gleb cycle is considered to be the anonymous “Tale”, the author of which focused mainly on the spiritual side of this historical drama. The task of the hagiographer is to depict the suffering of the saints and show the greatness of their spirit in the face of inevitable death. Boris knows in advance about Svyatopolk’s plans to kill him, and he is faced with the choice of either going to “fight Kyiv” and killing him, or with his death to initiate Christian relations between the princes - humility and submission to the elder. Boris chooses martyrdom. The psychological complexity of this choice is shown, which makes the picture of his death truly tragic, and to enhance the impact on the reader, the author repeats the scene of the prince’s murder three times. There are a lot of prayers in “The Tale,” Boris prays especially with inspiration before his death. The intonations of crying literally permeate the “Tale”, defining the main tone of the narrative. All this corresponds to the hagiographic canon. But the work is also characterized by a tendency towards individualization of the hagiographic hero, which contradicted the canon, but corresponded to the truth of life. The image of the younger brother Gleb did not duplicate the hagiographic characteristics of the elder. Gleb is more inexperienced than his brother, so he has complete confidence in Svyatopolk. Later, Gleb cannot suppress his fear of death and begs the killers for mercy. The author created one of the first psychological portraits in Russian literature, rich in the subtle emotional experiences of the hero. For Gleb, the destiny of a martyr is still premature. The depiction of the hagiographic anti-hero Svyatopolk is psychologically reliable. He is obsessed with envy and pride, he thirsts for power, and therefore is characterized by the epithets “cursed”, “despicable”. For the crime he committed, he bears a well-deserved punishment. Yaroslav the Wise defeats him, and Svyatopolk dies on the run. He is contrasted with Boris and Gleb, and Yaroslav, who became an instrument of divine retribution for the murderer. In order to surround the heroes with an aura of holiness, the author at the end talks about their posthumous miracles and praises them, putting them on a par with famous church figures. Unlike the traditional hagiography, the “Tale” does not describe the lives of the heroes from birth, but speaks only of their villainous murder. Pronounced
Historicism also contradicts the canons of life. Therefore, we can say that “The Tale” combines both hagiographic elements and elements of divergence from the canon, which reveals the genre originality of this work.
Hagiography is a genre that tells about the life of a real historical figure, canonized after death. Russian hagiographies developed on the basis of Byzantine ones. The genre took shape in the first centuries of Christianity and was supposed to serve as an illustration of Christian commandments. In the first lives, many miracles repeated the miracles of Christ. They were simple in form, but gradually they became more complex. Signs of life: idealization (ideal saints, ideal evil); in composition - strict adherence to the canons (introduction - many topoi, self-deprecation of the author, appeal to God for help; central narrative - a story or mention of parents; a story about the hero’s childhood; a story about his life and exploits; a story about death and posthumous miracles; conclusion -praise or prayer to a saint); the narrator is always an educated and well-read person, distancing himself from the hero, providing information about himself, clearly expressing his position in relation to the hero with the help of biblical quotes; the language is Church Slavonic and lively spoken, with extensive use of tropes and biblical quotations. “The Life of Theodosius of Pechersk” was written by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor. Following the genre canon, the author filled the life with traditional images and motifs. In the introduction, he self-deprecates; in stories about his childhood, Theodosius talks about his spirituality, talks about posthumous miracles. But Nestor violates one of the main rules of the genre - to depict -> a saint outside the specific signs of time and peoples. The author strives to convey the flavor of the era, which turns the work into a source of valuable historical information. From it we learn what charter regulated life in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, how the monastery grew and became rich, intervened in the struggle of the princes for the Kiev table, and contributed to the development of book publishing in Rus'. The main part of the life sometimes resembles the “hagiographical chronicle” of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, because includes stories about spiritual mentors, associates and students of Theodosius. In addition to the monastic life of Theodosius, his participation in the political life of Rus' is shown, which also increases the value of the “Life” as a literary monument.
“Life” laid the foundation for the development of the genre of venerable life in Russian literature.
6. “Teaching to Your Children” by Vladimir Monomakh. Composition, style, elements of autobiography.
“The Instruction” of Vladimir Monomakh is a wonderful monument of secular “educational” literature. It is written in the form of a lesson for children. The advice given in it reflected not only his experience as a statesman, a far-sighted politician and commander, but also his literary education, writing talent, and his ideas about the moral character of a Christian. This “Teaching” has come down to us in the Laurentian Chronicle. Compositionally, it consists of 3 parts: the actual teaching; Monomakh's story about his life, including his campaigns; letter from Monomakh to Oleg Svyatoslavich. At the same time, parts 2-3 serve as an illustration of the advice in part 1. Chronologically, these parts were arranged in a different sequence. There is a version that the “Letter” was written first, then the main part, the teaching itself. And lastly, an autobiographical part was created, where Monomakh summed up his work. For the edification of his contemporaries and descendants, Monomakh created the image of an ideal prince who cared about the glory and honor of the Russian land. He unquestioningly obeys his elders, lives in peace with his equal princes, strictly observes the Christian commandments and works incessantly. The autobiographical part contains many descriptions of the prince’s battles and campaigns. The stories about these campaigns are in the form of a list, with virtually no concentration on the details. This part ends with praise to God and gratitude that God protected him all his life. Vladimir Monomakh was fluent in different styles of speech, varying them in the “Instruction” depending on the topic and genre. The autobiographical part is written simply, in artless language, close to colloquial. “High syllable” is characteristic of ethical-philosophical reasoning, permeated with biblical quotations and rhythmically organized. Many fragments of the message to Oleg Svyatoslavich are permeated with a subtle lyrical feeling, for example, a request to release Izyaslav’s widow to him in order to mourn him together.
The “teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh went beyond the scope of a private document. It has a philosophical depth of reflection about God and man, life and death, valuable practical advice that has not lost its meaning, poetic imagery of style, and autobiographical elements, which helped the “Message” enter the “golden fund” of world literature.
7. The originality of “The Tale of Bygone Years” as a chronicle collection: themes, composition, intra-genre composition.
The appearance of each genre in literature is historically determined. Chronicle writing in Rus' arose from the need of early feudal society to have its own written history and was associated with the growth of national self-awareness of the Russian people. The question of the time of the emergence of Russian chronicles is considered controversial in science. Scattered records of historical events apparently existed already in the 10th century, but chronicle writing was not yet purposeful. It acquired it during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, at the beginning of the 11th century. the name of the first of the chronicles that have come down to us from the beginning of the 12th century. has the title “The Tale of Bygone Years of the Monk Fedosev of the Pechersk Monastery, from where the Russian land came...who began to live in it, and from where the Russian land began to eat.” In ancient times, the title indicated the main theme rather than signaling the genre. “The Tale of Temporary Summers is a work on which more than one generation of Russian chroniclers worked, it is a monument to collective creativity. The first stage of work dates back to the 30-40s. 11th century under Yaroslav the Wise. This stage was associated with the prince’s educational activities. The center of the chronicle was Sophia of Kiev, where the prince tried to establish a Russian, not a Greek, as metropolitan. The aggravation of the religious struggle for independence from Byzantium was also reflected in the chronicle, the core of which was “The Legend of the Spread of Christianity in Rus'.” In form, this is not yet a chronicle, but rather a patericon. The second stage occurred in the 70s. and is connected with another center of Russian enlightenment, the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Compilation of the first Pechersk chronicle of the 70s. took place with the participation of Nikon. At this stage in the history of chronicling, there appears a tendency towards a strict chronology of events, without which history would be devoid of movement. Dates could be taken from Easter tables, and historical information from the folklore of the Black Sea region. In the Nikon vault church history gradually began to develop into a secular one. The compilation of the second Pechersk chronicle dates back to the 90s. 11th century and is attributed to Abbot John. The monastery at that time was against Svyatopolk. The journalistic focus of the code was to glorify the former power of Rus' and denounce the princes waging fratricidal wars. At the end of the 90s. There was a reconciliation between the prince and the monastery and in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra a new chronicle was created in his interests - “The Tale of Bygone Years”, the first edition of which belongs to Nestor. From an opposition chronicle it turns into an official one and begins to have an all-Russian character.
New editions of The Tale of Bygone Years are being created outside the Pechersky Monastery. The second edition was compiled in 1116. priest Sylvester, whom Vladimir Monomakh instructed to “straighten out” Nestor’s work, which glorified his political opponent. In 1118 the chronicle is again edited in the interests of Prince Mstislav.
“The Tale of Bygone Years” contains 2 main ideas: the idea of the independence of Rus' and its equality with other countries (in the description of military operations) and the idea of the unity of Rus', the Russian princely family, the need for a union of princes and condemnation of strife (“The Legend of the Calling of the Varangians”). The work highlights several main themes: the theme of the unification of cities, the theme of the military history of Rus', the theme of the peaceful activities of princes, the theme of the history of the adoption of Christianity, the theme of urban uprisings. In terms of composition, this is a very interesting work. It breaks down into 2 parts: up to 850, a conventional chronology, and then a weather one. There were also articles where it was a year, but there was no record. This meant that nothing significant happened that year, and the chronicler did not consider it necessary to record it. Under one year there could be several large narratives. The chronicle includes symbols: visions, miracles, signs, as well as messages and teachings. The first, dated 852, article was associated with the beginning of the Russian land. Under 862 there was a legend about the calling of the Varangians, the establishment of a single ancestor of the Russian princes Rurik. The next turning point in the chronicle is associated with the baptism of Rus' in 988. The final articles talk about the reign of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. Also compositional originality“The Tale of Bygone Years” is manifested in the combination of many genres in this work. Partly because of this, messages of different content were sometimes placed under the same year. The chronicle was a collection of primary genre formations. Here we find both a weather record - the simplest and oldest form of narration, and a chronicle story, chronicle legends. The closeness of the chronicle to hagiographic literature is revealed in the stories about two Varangian martyrs, about the founding of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery and its ascetics, about the transfer of the relics of Boris and Gleb, about the repose of Theodosius of the Pechersk. The genre of funeral laudatory words was associated in the chronicles with obituary articles, which often contained verbal portraits of deceased historical figures, for example, a description of the Tmutarakan prince Rostislav, who was poisoned during a feast by a Byzantine warrior. Landscape sketches are symbolic. Unusual natural phenomena are interpreted by the chronicler as “signs” - warnings from above about impending death or glory.
In the depths of the “Tale of Bygone Years” a military story begins to take shape. Elements of this genre are already present in the story about Yaroslav’s revenge on Svyatopolk the Accursed. The chronicler describes the gathering of troops and the march, preparations for battle, the “evil slaughter” and the flight of Svyatopolk. Also, the features of a military story can be traced in “The Tale of Oleg’s Capture of Tsaryrad”, in the story “About the Battle of Yaroslav with Mstislav”.
8. The depiction of historical figures and the originality of the style of “The Tale of Bygone Years.”
The central heroes of the chronicle are the princes. Chroniclers of the 11th-12th centuries. depicted them from the point of view of the established princely ideal: good warrior, head of his people, generous, merciful. The prince is also a good Christian, a fair judge, merciful to those in need, a person incapable of committing any crimes. But in The Tale of Bygone Years there are few ideal princes. First of all, these are Boris and Gleb. All other princes are presented more or less diversified. In the chronicle, the squad supports the prince. The people are most often depicted as a passive force. A hero emerges from the people and saves the people and the state: Nikita Kozhemyaka; a youth who decides to make his way through the enemy camp. Most of them do not have a name (they are called by age), nothing is known about their past and future, each has an exaggerated quality, reflecting a connection with the people - strength or wisdom. The hero appears in a certain place at a critical moment. The depiction of the heroes of the early chronicles is greatly influenced by folklore. The chronicle gives laconic but vivid characteristics to the first Russian princes (Oleg, Olga, Igor, Svyatoslav, Vladimir), highlighting the dominant feature in the image of the hero, and of an individual order. The image of Olga poetizes the wisdom of a statesman, which is expressed in the search for a single faith and in revenge on the Drevlyans. The characterization of Svyatoslav is epically laconic. He is a straightforward and courageous man, easy to communicate with soldiers; he preferred victory in open battle to military cunning. He always warned his enemies that he was preparing a campaign against them. Characteristics of Svyatoslav are given through his actions and accomplished feats. In later fragments of the chronicle, the image of the good Christian prince comes to the fore. The characteristics of these princes are official, devoid of individual signs. The murderous prince could turn into a righteous man; Yaroslav the Wise turns from a disobedient son into an instrument of divine punishment for Svyatopolk the Accursed. In the chronicle there is a mixture of the style of monumental historicism, epic stylistics and church stylistics. In stories written in the style of monumental historicism, everything is known in advance, the fate of the hero is predetermined. And in epic parts the effect of surprise is often used. Also a feature of the style is the mixture of different genres in one chronicle, often condensing different events into one year (especially if this event lasted several years).
9. The originality of the content and form of the Novgorod chronicle of the era of feudal fragmentation. "The Tale of the Battle of the Lipitsa River."
The basis of the Novgorod 1st Chronicle was made up of records that were kept at the bishop's court. The chronicle itself retains the names of some authors, for example, Herman Vojata and his successor, sexton Timofey. Chroniclers often expressed their point of view on the events described. The Novgorodians themselves chose their princes and treated them very freely, so the prince was not the main person in the Novgorod Chronicle. The main content of the chronicle consisted of records about the life of the city and the entire Novgorod land. Pictures of disasters and natural phenomena appear repeatedly. Much attention is paid to the various activities of the townspeople, especially the construction and painting of churches. The number of people mentioned in the chronicle is very large: townspeople, mayors, etc. Novgorod chroniclers were prone to brevity, most of the records were weather records. All Novgorodians were patriots of their city, so in descriptions of battles they tended to exaggerate the number of enemies and understate the number of Novgorodians. The event type is very rare and stands on the border with the informative one. Legendary stories were used quite often. A striking distinctive feature of the Novgorod Chronicle is the author’s direct expression of his opinion about people. A genre that can be confidently identified in the chronicle is the military story. The types of military stories in the Novgorod chronicle are the same as in other principalities (informative and eventful), but the boundaries between them are much more fluid. In military stories, little attention is paid to heroes, although there are much more names of characters mentioned in them than in other chronicles, since the authors name the names of princes, governors, and individual townspeople. The descriptions of the battles are very brief (most of the chronicles were created by clergy who were far from military events). The chroniclers cared about the glory of their city and were extremely reluctant to write about the defeats of the Novgorodians. They often resorted to methods of keeping silent about the results of the battle, instead of which the deaths of individual Novgorodians were reported, and it was mentioned that more enemies died. One of the few event stories in the Novgorod Chronicle is the story of the battle on the Lipitsa River in 1216. The first part tells in detail about the events preceding the battle. The beginning of Mstislav's campaign with the Novgorodians against Yaroslav is dated. Then the movement with battles near small towns, which were claimed by the allies or Yaroslav himself, is described; there are no descriptions of the battles. The exact location of the troops who came to the battle is indicated. The second part tells about the battle. Its description is very brief. The third part talks about the consequences: the flight of Yaroslav to Pereyaslavl; the arrest of captured Novgorodians, causing many to die; the expulsion of Yuri from Vladimir and the reign of Constantine there; the return of the Novgorodians from Pereyaslavl and the arrival of Yaroslav in Novgorod. The heroes of the work are characterized very poorly, as in most Novgorod stories. The author emphasizes the correctness of Mstislav and his desire to avoid bloodshed. Simple Novgorod warriors also appear. They are the ones who determine how they will fight and win. The narrator openly and consistently expresses his position. He rejoices at Mstislav’s victory and is surprised that “they are like father against father, brother against brother...” (during the gathering of princely coalitions). The author's position, as in many Novgorod stories, is manifested in exaggerating the forces and losses of the enemies and belittling the forces and losses of the Novgorodians. Speech characters- conversational, laconic. In different parts of the work, military formulas are used: “many were beaten, and some were confiscated, and some were escaped,” less numerous than in informative stories.
10. Review of translated literatureXI- XIIIcenturies Characteristics of the Apocrypha.
Christianity came to Rus' from Byzantium through the mediation of Yugoslav countries, primarily Bulgaria. Therefore, the first books that Russians began to read were translations from Greek, often made by Bulgarian scribes. At first, the main topic was the topic of world history. Byzantine chronicles were very common in Rus', among which were the “Chronicle” of George Amartol and the “Chronicle” of John Malala. A feature of the narrative was the combination of dynastic series with entertaining stories about the fate of historical figures and events of the past. The History of the Jewish War by Josephus is considered a masterpiece of translation art. This work tells about the destruction of Jerusalem in the first person, because. Joseph was an eyewitness to these events. “History” is imbued with a sense of experience, pictures of war are created on an apocalyptic scale. The novel about Alexander the Great was especially popular in Rus'. Its basis is not historical authenticity, but the action-packed story of the hero’s adventures, of wonderful lands where fantastic creatures live. The personality of the commander itself also acquired a legendary character. The Macedonian was credited with semi-divine origin, campaigns in Sicily, and the conquest of Rome. His death is also shrouded in mystery. In addition to historical chronicles, hagiographic literature, oratorical prose, apocrypha, and natural science literature penetrated into the country. Of the translated hagiographic literature, the most famous are the translations of the lives of Alexy, the man of God; Andrey Yurodivy; St. George the Victorious and others. They had no less circulation in Rus' than the lives of Orthodox saints. Nicholas the Wonderworker enjoyed great veneration in Rus'. Many religious traditions and legends were associated with his name; he was a favorite hero of folk spiritual poetry. There were about 40 works about him. Known in Rus' since the 11th century. “The Life of Alexy, the Man of God” gained particular popularity in the 17th century, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich (the saint was his patron). This life had a great influence on many hagiographic monuments of Rus'. Also very famous in Rus' were the Indian Patericon (translations of India) and the Sinai Patericon (translations of the Sinai area). The Patericon did not contain complete biographies of the saints, but short stories about the most striking episodes of their ascetic activity. Of oratorical prose, the most famous collection was the Byzantine “Bee”. It consisted of short stories, anecdotes, sayings, quotes that glorified virtues or condemned vices. The translated “Physiologist” was a kind of “natural science encyclopedia” of the Middle Ages. It contained information about the flora and fauna, sometimes of an exotic and often fantastic nature (for example, crocodiles cry when devouring their prey, lions sleep with their eyes open, and the phoenix bird is able to be reborn from the ashes). The “physiologist” symbolically interpreted the habits and properties of animals, correlating them with the state of the human soul. The general idea of the structure of the universe was formed by “Christian Topography”, and the commentary on the story about the creation of the world in 6 days contained “Six Days”. Interest in apocryphal literature and non-canonical books was also persistent in Rus'. They are divided into books that do not contradict the dogmas of Christianity and are calmly accepted by the church, and those that contradict the canonical ones and are prohibited by the church. There are about 30 apocrypha related to the Old Testament, and the same number related to the Gospel. The Apocrypha were oral, they are usually divided into 3 groups: Old Testament (the legend “How God Created Adam” - the authors recognized that the devil also took part in the creation of man); New Testament (apocrypha about the life of Christ and his disciples) and eschatological (telling about a journey to the afterlife, for example, “The Virgin Mary’s Walk through Torment” - the Mother of God wants to see how sinners live in hell).
11. Characteristics of the walking genre. Features of “The Walking of Abbot Daniel” as the first monument of the pilgrimage variety of the genre. Work by N.I. Prokofiev “Walking: travel and literary genre.”
Walking is a genre that tells about a real-life journey. There are pilgrimage, merchant, embassy and exploration walks. Signs of the genre of circulation: events that are actually historical; by composition - a chain of travel sketches connected by chronological or topographical criteria; the narrator is not necessarily educated, but has the required personal qualities - courage, energy, diplomacy, religious tolerance, he does not seek to embellish or idealize events; the language is simple, colloquial Old Russian, the use of foreign words for the nominative function, comparisons are most often used. In the travel literature of Ancient Rus', Prokofiev identifies 5 groups of “travellings”: documentary and artistic works of an essay type, compiled on the basis of personal impressions; “travelers” - short practical route indicators; “skasks” are records of oral stories of Russian people who visited foreign countries or foreigners who came to Rus'; article lists and reports of Russian ambassadors on trips abroad with a diplomatic mission; legendary or fictitious travel stories compiled for journalistic purposes. The first example of this genre is “The Pilgrimage of Hegumen Daniel to Palestine.” The work begins with a rather extensive introduction. Daniel uses self-deprecation and speaks of the purpose of writing: so that people who could not travel would receive spiritual pleasure. But the second side of his goal is work, the creation of a “buy-in” for the talent given to him. In terms of composition, it is a chain of travel sketches connected according to a topographical principle. “Walking” is characterized by a fusion of the legendary, the source of which could be the Bible, apocrypha, and folk legends, with the real, topographically reliable. Features of “The Walking of Abbot Daniel”: descriptions of holy places; many real landscape sketches, he strives for extreme concreteness of what is depicted; retelling or mention of hagiographic, biblical or apocryphal legends; a narrative about the journey itself and discussions about the narrator. The versatility of the abbot’s interests is also striking: in addition to holy places, he is interested in practical issues - the irrigation system of Jericho, the extraction of incense on the island of Cyprus, the special layout of Jerusalem, built in the shape of a 4-pointed cross. The style of the work is characterized by laconicism and parsimonious language. Daniel avoids abstract words, preferring simple vocabulary of a concrete everyday nature. Epithets are usually descriptive or evaluative. The simple language is explained by the fact that the abbot from the very beginning set himself the intention of writing simply and understandably for ordinary people. The Walk of Abbot Daniel" is valuable as a detailed guide for Russian pilgrims and a source of archaeological information about Jerusalem. In his work, the first in its genre, the basic canons of writing walks were formed, which later became distinctive features for this genre.
12. Kyiv literature of the era of feudal fragmentation. Kyiv Chronicle. South Russian story about Igor's campaign against the Polovtsians.
13. History of origin, genre composition, style features of the “Kievo-Pechersk Patericon”».
The genre of “patericon,” a collection of works about the saints of a particular locality, had a wide geographical scope and a long history before it began to develop in Russian literature. Translated patericons were known in Rus' back in the 11th-12th centuries. In Russian literature, the first work of this genre was the patericon of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, founded in the mid-11th century. The Patericon was created in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Its new editions were created in the 14th, 15th, and 17th centuries. This patericon was a genre-ensemble, the structure of which was complex and flexible: the composition of the patericon and the principle of arrangement of texts in it changed from edition to edition. Very early on, it included chronicle articles related to the history of the most famous monastery, as well as works from the Fedosievo cycle (the works of Theodosius of Pechersk, “Life” and “Praise” of the saint). The basis of this patericon is the correspondence between Bishop Simon of Vladimir and the monk of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery Polycarp. This correspondence raised questions of the moral behavior of the monks and personally of Polycarp himself, who desired strength and power. And, dreaming of becoming an abbess, he turned to Simon for help. The composition of the patericon within the genre is very diverse: it contains epistles, patericon lives, teachings, miracles, visions, signs, and oral monastic legends. All patericon lives have an action-packed character. The main characters, along with monks, are also demons. Direct speech is used very often. Only the didactic parts contain Slavic vocabulary and quotes. In the Patericon Life there is no complete narrative about the life of the saint from birth to posthumous miracles; the author limits himself to one or several episodes, but the most striking and significant ones. The remaining news about the saint is given in a compressed form. These lives are very laconic, artless, they contain many cliched comparisons, little allegories and rhetoric. The stories of the patericon arose on a folklore basis, preserving the epic nature of the images, the fairy-tale style of narration and many dialogues. The style of the patericon is short and artless, teaching in the form of an entertaining and action-packed story. Features of the patericon: presentation of the lives of the heroes, information content, lack of idealization of the heroes. These features are inherent in the epic style of the work.
14. Time of creation, Main idea, plot and composition of “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign.” Work by V.F. Rzhiga “Composition “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign”.
The work was discovered in 1788-1792. Musin-Pushkin. Two directions arose in the study of the “Word”: the text as an ancient monument and the skeptical direction (they believed that the “Word” was a fake of the late 18th century). One of the adherents of the theory of the authenticity of the “Word” was A.S. Pushkin, he was also studied by Buslaev (author of an anthology for gymnasiums), Potebnya (unified the spelling of all the words of the work, established the poetic characteristics of the “Word”), Barsov (wrote a work on the “Word” , where he summarized everything that had been said about him for 100 years, gave his interpretation of the “dark places”, and created part of the reference dictionary “Words”). The skeptical school reached its peak in the 20-30s. 19th century The group of researchers was headed by Kochenovsky. Also adjoining him were Belikov, Katkov, Aksakov and others. They proceeded from a low knowledge of ancient Russian culture. It was believed that the Lay used words from different Slavic languages. Skeptics ignored the fact that traces of the work were found in other ancient Russian monuments. Until 1852, skeptical views remained unchanged. But this year a list of “Zadonshchina” was found, where the traditions of the “Word” stood out very clearly. Skeptics are fading into the shadows, and the last surge of skeptical theory was in the 60s. 20th century Zimin brings forward new arguments: he published a number of articles and summarized his observations in a book that was not published in large numbers. The main points of his theory: “The Word” was written in the beginning. 90s 18th century; associated with the Russian-Turkish war; author - Bykovsky. Baza-Bykovsky was a poet, Musin-Pushkin also made his own amendments. He argued that the Lay had many folklore sources (“Zadonshchina”) and contained many Turkisms. The time of creation of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” was the last 15 years of the 12th century. a number of researchers call the more probable time 1185-1187. (between the time of the campaign and the death of Vladimir Pereyaslavsky and Yaroslav Galitsky, mentioned in the work). The historical basis for the creation of this work was the unsuccessful campaign in the Polovtsian steppe in 1185 of the Russian princes under the leadership of the Novgorod-Seversk prince Igor Svyatoslavich. It was written after this tragic event. The work has a very strong idea about the need for the unity of Rus' and the end of princely civil strife. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” in the Kyiv Chronicle describes the same events that are described in the “Word”. It is clearly divided into 3 parts: preparation of the battle - battle - consequences of the campaign. There are no lyrical fragments in this story, while the Lay is full of them (for example, Yaroslavna’s cry). There are similarities in the central parts: they seem to be divided into 2 fragments - 2 battles. But there is one more part in the “Word” - it includes the preparation of troops and the march. In the “Tale”, the first part is detailed and detailed - there is a description of the troops, the exact date of the start of the campaign, a description of the sign, which is interpreted not by the author, but by the prince and the squad. In “The Word” this part is included in the 2nd, and the introduction is lyrical in nature. The author addresses the listeners, talks about the purpose of his work (which is not in the “Tale”). The third part, telling about the consequences of Igor’s campaign, in the “Tale” begins with a fragment of Svyatoslav’s gathering of troops to repel the Polovtsy, and then tells about the Polovtsian campaign against Rus' (an independent military story introduced into the narrative of Igor’s campaign). In “The Lay,” this part begins with a lyrical fragment of Yaroslavna’s lament, and then it tells about Igor’s escape from captivity with many lyrical fragments, a description of the forces of nature that help Igor. Both works end with the same event—Igor’s escape from captivity and his return home, described in detail. The main difference between these works is the lyrical fragments (in the “Word” they are in abundance, but in the “Tale” they are absent). There are also differences in composition.
The plot and compositional design of “The Lay” is unique; it does not obey the canon of any of the known genres of ancient Russian literature. Also, the construction of the monument is distinguished by artistic perfection and expediency. The composition text is usually divided into 3 parts: introduction, main part and conclusion. The introduction is lyrical in nature. The author addresses the listeners, talks about the purpose of writing the Lay, recalls Boyan, who glorified the deeds of the princes. The author points to 2 time layers that determine the chronological framework of the story: “from old Vladimir to present-day Igor,” we are most likely talking about Vladimir Monomakh, because the idea of the word was relevant precisely during his reign. There is already a desire for journalism, for the relevance of the work. The central part of the work is divided into 3 subparts: the plot - Igor’s preparation of the battle, solar eclipse, 2 battles with the Polovtsians; a combination of lyrical and lyrical-journalistic fragments - Svyatoslav’s dream, the interpretation of this dream, Svyatoslav’s “Golden Word”, at the end, in part, the idea that the Russian princes need unity to fight not only the Polovtsians, but also all external enemies. Here a historical digression appears about Vseslav, an older contemporary of Monomakh, who participated in numerous strife, but never achieved success. The third subpart connects the lyrical fragment - Yaroslavna's lament - with the end of the plot - the story of Igor's escape from captivity, where there are many landscape sketches describing the natural forces helping Igor. Conclusion - praise to Igor. With the help of lyrical fragments and historical digressions, the author managed to show the harmful influence of the uncoordinated actions of the princes on the fate of Rus'. Main idea“Words” is expressed in the central part when the action takes place in Kyiv. Kyiv is thought of as the unifying principle of the Russian princes. Landscapes occupy the most important place in the visual system of the Lay. They can be divided into 3 groups: dynamic, symbolic, static. Dynamic (promoting or opposing heroes) is used in subparts 1 and 3; static (denoting the time of day or recording some state of nature) appear there, there are very few of them; symbolic ones are associated only with Igor’s campaign and are dominated by images of luminaries. The composition “Words” combines both lyrical and epic principles, which determines its originality.
15. Features of the depiction of historical figures in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
There is no one main character in The Lay. Each part has its own main character. This is Igor, Svyatoslav, Yaroslavna. In addition to the main characters, there are also secondary ones, for example, images of princes of the past in historical digressions. Each historical figure in The Lay is depicted in its own way. Igor is depicted in the same way as the prince-heroes of military stories were often depicted. He is a warrior and a courageous and courageous person. His desire for fame is very strong and sometimes clouds his mind. His unreasonableness forces the author to almost not show him in battle, because no heroism can justify a prince who does not think about fate native land. The author paints the image of Igor using metaphors, comparisons, and characteristics of other characters in the work. For the author, Igor is an example of an erroneous princely policy, and praise is given to him only because he came to Svyatoslav, i.e. realized the need for unity. The author portrays Svyatoslav as an ideal hero. He is opposed to Igor and Vsevolod. His image is that of a powerful prince-military leader who defeated the Polovtsians thanks to unity. He is also characterized by his speech: wise, judicious statements, even prophetic. It is he who pronounces the famous “golden word” and sees a prophetic dream about the death of Igor’s army. The image of Yaroslavna was created on the basis of a lyrical fragment of lamentation. Her image is a generalization; this is precisely why such a genre was chosen to characterize her - purely folk. Yaroslavna is depicted as a kind of symbol of peaceful Russian people, in contrast to the historically described princes. The power of her love, which helps Igor escape from captivity, is the power of all Russian women. In addition to the main characters, the author portrayed real-life historical figures who are minor characters in The Lay. For example, Vsevolod Svyatoslavich, Igor’s brother. He is younger than Igor, but he also... has the brotherly trait of warrior heroism. This is the only person shown by the author in battle, and his actions are similar to those of a hero. He is shown in battle as an epic hero, his description is full of hyperbole, his selflessness with which he chops down the enemy is shown. He embodies the best traits of a warrior. The remaining minor characters are shown in a very general way. But in addition to real-life persons participating in the battle, the Lay contains images of princes of the past, who are spoken of at moments of historical retreats. Oleg Svyatoslavich is condemned by the author: “TiboOleg we throw sedition and sow arrows on the ground.” There are 2 metaphors here: the sword-weapon of the defender of Rus', and arrows that dotted the ground instead of grains. Oleg is the sower of strife between the princes. Prince Vseslav of Polotsk appears as a man endowed with supernatural abilities, “prophetic”. Episodes of his life are conveyed using metaphors, the meaning of which can be understood from the chronicle. The author has an ambiguous attitude towards him: on the one hand, he participates in civil strife, and the author condemns him, but on the other hand, Vseslav himself more than once becomes a victim of these civil strife. The third image of the prince of the past is the image of Rostislav Vsevolodovich. There are almost no characteristics of him, he is mentioned only in connection with his tragic death. He dies from the Polovtsians at a very young age, and the author shows in his image the images of many young men who suffered the same fate after the battle with their enemies. In the images of the princes of the past, the author reminded readers of the disastrous consequences of internecine wars and fragmentation of Rus'.
16. The problem of the rhythmic organization of the text “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The originality of the poetic language of the work.
The problem of the rhythmic organization of the “Word” is one of the most difficult problems in literary criticism. It is not known whether this is prose or poetry, because... Not all rhythmic patterns have been identified. Stelletsky’s concept is considered the most convincing. He tried to identify the patterns of rhythmic units, the main feature of which he considered completeness of intonation with a decrease in tone towards the end of the unit. He identified 2 groups of these units: lines of archaic rhythmic-intonation verse and lines of rhythmically organized prose. To create rhythm, various syntactic means are used: anaphors, epiphores, syntactic parallelism, homogeneous members. Following his theory, the lines written in verse are limited to beginnings and refrains: “O Russian land! Already for the shelomyanem \”, “. For the Russian land, for the wounds of Igor, Bugo Svyatslavich\”, etc. But Stelletsky's theory is not ideal. For example, he suggested that for ancient Russian literature word stress did not matter, although for poetry it is an important factor. It is impossible to check the influence of stress on the rhythmic structure of the “Word”, because there is no accentological dictionary for that time. And therefore, although Stelletsky’s work has provided many patterns, the problem of the rhythm of the work still remains relevant.
The poetic language of the “Word” is created through a variety of syntactic means, tropes, and lyrical means (for example, Yaroslavna’s cry).
17. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and oral folk art.
The view of researchers who believed that “The Lay” is a folklore work and tried to find analogies for it in the field of genres of folk art can be considered almost obsolete. But despite this, quite a lot of folklore traditions can be traced in the work. As Likhachev said, the “Word” of the folklore genres is closest to laments and words. CNT traditions exist in visual and expressive means: constant epithets, metaphorical images familiar to folk art (for example, a battle-feast and a battle-sowing, harvest), tautological combinations (“neither think in thought, nor think in thought”), personification (“The grass has no pity, but the tree has bowed down to the ground”) . Folklore traditions are also used in the images of heroes and some descriptions. For example, Vsevolod Svyatoslavich, who looks like an epic hero during a battle, his strength and power are exaggerated. Svyatoslav also combines heroic qualities: wisdom and strength. Symbolic landscape descriptions can also be considered a continuation of the CNT traditions. Fantastic events (nature's help to the prince during his escape from captivity), symbolic phenomena (solar eclipse, bloody dawn, screams and barking of animals before battle) are also relics of folklore. Summarizing what has been said, it can be argued that the connection with CNT is manifested at the genre level (crying, lamentation, proverbs, epics), as well as through artistic means (psychological parallelism, repetitions, epithets).
Finding the author of the “Tale” is one of the main tasks of studying this monument. Since its main idea is the need to unite the forces of all princes to protect Rus', and its features, according to various researchers, make it similar to the Novgorod, Galician-Volyn, Kyiv and other traditions, the author of this work may come from a variety of lands. For example, from Kyiv (according to Rybakov’s hypothesis) or the Pskov principality (according to Gogeshvili’s hypothesis). Zimin, a representative of the skeptical trend in the study of the “Word,” believed that it was created by the archimandrite of the Spaso-Yaroslavl Monastery, Joel Bykovsky, and Musin-Pushkin slightly modified it. Despite the abundance of hypotheses, the question of the authorship of the “Lay” can be considered deadlocked, because none of the hypotheses naming the author of the monument can be considered true, because there are no sufficient grounds for this, and the appearance of new historical figures who are credited with authorship only confuses readers without adding anything important to the study of the work itself.
19. Genre originality of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” History of translations of the “Word”, their types and features.
The solution to the problem of the genre of the work still remains ambiguous. The opinion about the folklore genre “Words” can be considered almost obsolete. This work is considered as a work of book tradition, having some folklore features. I.P. Eremin believed that it belongs to the genre of solemn political eloquence. This version has been convincingly proven, although not ideal. Likhachev proposed a more compromise option. He argued that the “Word” is closest among written genres to the genre of solemn oratorical eloquence, and among folklore genres it is closest to laments and words. The most successful is the point of view of Prokofiev, who said that “The Lay” is a lyrical-epic song. This decision simultaneously takes into account the generic complexity of the work, its connection with the folk poetic tradition, and the originality of the rhythmic organization. At the same time, it makes it possible to compare the “Lay” with Western European works of medieval epic, for example, “The Song of Roland.” Translations of the “Lay” exist in all languages of the world. There are about 100 translations in Russian: interlinear (for educational purposes, literal translation); poetic (the text is accurately conveyed, not written in the syllabic-tonic system); poetic arrangement (individual deviations from the text are allowed, dividing it into parts, written in syllabic tonic). The names of several translators of the Lay have been preserved, whose translations we still use today. Zhukovsky, translating the Lay, sought to preserve the ancient text (its vocabulary and rhythm) as much as possible. He translated it in rhythmic prose. All other translations are from the 19th and 20th centuries. can be classified as a type of arrangement. The best of them is Maikov's translation. Maikov worked on it for 4 years. His translation contains many interpretations of the “dark places” given by himself. The translation is written in 5-foot trochee. Because of this, the text acquired a monotony that is not present in the original. Zabolotsky's translation is also very common. He decided to divide the text into parts and translated the “dark places”. His translation is easy to read, but does not convey the vocabulary of the “Word”. The translation size is 5-foot trochee with separate tonic inserts. In the 20th century There were 2 translations: Andrei Chernov and Shklyaris. They sought to convey the text of the Lay more accurately. Chernov took into account the special rhyme of the original, on the basis of which he made his translation.
20. History of the study of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Translations of works, their types and features.
21. Galicia-Volyn Chronicle as a monument to the era of feudal fragmentation. The originality of the “Chronicle of Daniil of Galicia” as a princely chronicler.
This chronicle is heterogeneous in nature. It consists of two parts: the Galician Chronicle (before 1262) and the Volyn Chronicle (tells about the history of the Volyn Principality in the last period). The 2nd part is unoriginal in a literary sense. In this sense, the 1st part is more interesting. Initially, the chronicle was created as a description of the prince's life. But the late setting of dates led to a discrepancy in years of up to 5 years (compared to other chronicles). Prince Daniil Galitsky is presented in the chronicle in many ways. He is shown not only as an experienced commander and warrior, but also as a city planner. The portrait descriptions of the prince and the army are unique. The prince's clothes and the harness of his horse are described in detail.
The content of the chronicle is largely related to the position of the principality on the outskirts of Rus', in close proximity to the Polovtsian steppe and Western European countries. The Galician princes had to enter into difficult relationships with other Russian princes and with their western neighbors. As in most chronicles of the era of feudal fragmentation, a significant place is occupied by stories about internecine wars, battles with the Cumans and their western neighbors. The narrative is secular in nature, although the author’s erudition not only in secular, but also in church literature is beyond doubt. But the task that stood in the foreground—to give a heroic biography of a contemporary prince—forced us to abandon the didactic-moralistic approach. Because This chronicle is a princely chronicler, much attention is paid to Daniel. The chronicles contain many descriptions of battles, hence many military stories. The battles (mainly those in which Daniel participated) are described in detail. These descriptions are distinguished by the detail and vividness of the depiction of events, attention to the heroes, especially Daniel, and a penchant for picturesque depictions of battles. For example, in the story about the battle of Yaroslav, each of the characters is endowed with individual traits, the images of Daniel and Vasilko as courageous warriors and brave, successful commanders are especially vividly drawn. The author speaks of divine help to them in battle: “I will show God my help over them, as victory does not come from the help of man, but from God.” In the story of the ruin of Kyiv by Batu, the commander of the battle was Dimitar, appointed by Daniil Galitsky. The author does not pay much attention to the characters in the story, focusing on a picturesque depiction of events, perhaps because the main character did not participate in the events. The image of Dimitar is drawn in only a few lines: it is said about his injury and at the end it is said about Dmitry’s courage.
22. Vladimir-Suzdal literature from the era of feudal fragmentation. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign against the Polovtsians” according to the Laurentian Chronicle.
This was a principality in the 12th century. became one of the most powerful Russian principalities. This process of strengthening the principality was preserved in the annals of Radzivilov and Laurentian. The Vladimir chronicles of this time are closer to the all-Russian type. For them, the division of the descendants of Vladimir Monomakh, who reigned in this principality, is important. The Vladimir and Kyiv stories about Andrei Bogolyubsky are very similar. Most likely, its source was the Kiev Chronicle.
The genre composition of the Laurentian Chronicle is reminiscent of The Tale of Bygone Years. But a greater place is occupied by the military story, primarily about internecine wars, the fight against the Polovtsians, the Volga Bulgars and northern peoples. Consequently, the military story receives its final form in this chronicle. The informative type of stories predominates; chroniclers pay great attention to the assessment of events. Quotes and retrospective historical analogies are very common. For example, a story about Igor Svyatoslavich’s campaign against the Polovtsians. The work consists of 3 parts. The first part talks about the reasons and preparation for the trip. The second part is a description of both battles with the Cumans using several military formulas. The third part is complex in structure, it talks about the consequences of the campaign. This part is divided into 3 more sub-parts: Svyatoslav’s campaign against the Polovtsy, the story of the siege of Pereyaslavl, the story of Igor’s escape from captivity. The story ends with a didactic digression, where the author speaks of the prince’s defeat as God’s punishment. This story differs from the story in the Kyiv Chronicle. None of the princes is shown as an independent character - they are a single whole, “Olgovyvnutsi” or “Olgovichi”. The motives that drive them are not the defense of their native land, but the thirst for glory. The reason for defeat is boasting, excessive self-confidence. But Svyatoslav of Kiev and Vladimir Pereyaslavsky are presented to the author as genuine defenders of Rus', trying to stop the Polovtsians. But, like all other characters, they are depicted by the author very sparingly. The image of the narrator in the story is typical of the Laurentian Chronicle: he condemns the Olgovichs. His assessment is manifested through the characteristics: “but not the building of God,” “man has no wisdom, no courage, no thoughts against the Lord.” Also in the story there are almost no figurative and expressive means, except for military formulas. In addition to stories of an informative type, there are weather records. They are laconic and lack precision in dating. There are also military stories of the event type. But there are significantly fewer of them. For example, stories about the campaigns of Andrei Bogolyubsky and Yuri Dolgoruky. In these stories, the author pays much more attention to the heroes than in the story about Igor’s campaign. In addition to military stories, other primary genres are found in the chronicle: signs, praise (usually accompanies the story of the death of a prince), and teaching. An example of Vladimir-Suzdal literature can rightfully be called “The Prayer of Daniil the Zatochnik.” He had 2 editions, which gave 2 works - “Prayer” and “Word”.
23. History of the text, content, problem of the genre “Prayers of Daniel the Imprisoner.” Article by B.A. Rybakov “Daniil Zatochnik and Russian chronicles of the 12th century.” No. 22.
“Prayer” is one of the most striking monuments of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality of the period of feudal fragmentation. There are 2 editions of it: “The Word” and “Prayer”. Daniel remains a conditional person for us, because... it is unknown whether he actually existed. Rybakov refers to the “Word” to 1197. The addressee is Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich. Rybakov dates the “Prayer” to 1229 and believes that it was written by another author and addressed to Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. The scientist proposed calling the author of this edition “pseudo-Daniil.” In the “Word” Daniel humiliates himself before the prince, he talks about his poverty and defenselessness. Daniel asks to help him, because “we know a rich man everywhere and keep friends in a foreign country; but we hate to walk in ours, wretchedly.” His speeches contain many expressions similar in style to sayings and proverbs. He praises the prince, saying that his voice is sweet and his image is beautiful. The 2nd part of the “Word” is similar in style to a teaching, when Daniel tells the prince how to rule, mentioning King Solomon, Ezekiel and others. Then the story comes down to what a prince’s wife and retinue should be like. In conclusion, Daniel wishes the prince “Samson’s strength and David’s cunning.” The text of “Prayer” is not much different from the 1st edition. But a number of factual information and stylistic features appear in it. The ending contains an appeal to the prince, the author warns of some terrible events (which is not in the Lay). In "Prayer" the style of the 1st edition is generally preserved, but they become more explicit folklore elements. Both editions make extensive use of puns, rhetorical appeals, syntactic parallelism and rhetorical questions. There is a point of view that “The Word” and “Prayer” are written in the genre of epistle. But there are many deviations from the main purpose of the message. Therefore, there is such a point of view that this is a collection of aphorisms. In the USA there are 2 scientists who developed this theory: Romanchuk and Bernbaum. They argued that Daniel had many deviations from the letter, the work had a second addressee (brothers and prince), and Daniel himself was a monk (brothers-address to monks). “The Prayer of Daniel the Imprisoner”, against the background of other written monuments of this period known to us, is an innovative work that combines book wisdom and folk speech, biblical reminiscences and buffoon jokes, techniques of solemn eloquence and the folk tradition of puns. As a unique monument, “Prayer” is outside the traditional medieval genre system. Therefore, it is impossible to define the genre of this work unambiguously, which is the problem of the “Prayer” genre
“The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” has come down to us in 2 copies, but both of them are late, and only in fragments. There are hypotheses that this is an introduction to a trilogy or an introduction to the life of Alexander Nevsky, because in both lists, after him came the life of Nevsky. But most researchers assume that this is an independent work. The text that has survived can be divided into 3 parts: 1-praise of the Russian land (“Oh, bright and beautifully decorated”); 2-memories of the power of Rus' (the time of Vladimir Monomakh, when “everything was subjugated to the God-Christian language”); 3-word about the illness that existed at that time. Despite the insignificance of the volume of the surviving text, a number of artistic features turn out to be comparable to “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Perhaps the reason for the similarity is the patriotism of both authors, their concern for Rus', which is also manifested in their works. Both authors combined the past and present in their works, looked at Rus' panoramicly, hence the natural pictures depicting the power of their native land. And the choice of Monomakh’s timing is not accidental, because... under him, Rus' defeated the Polovtsians. Some paths and images are also similar: “One brother, one bright light” in “The Tale of the Regiment” and the “lightly bright” Russian land in the “Tale of Destruction”; in the “Tale of the Regiment” Yaroslav Galitsky props up the mountains to protect against the Ugrians with “iron regiments”, and in the “Tale of the Destruction” the Ugrians hide from Monomakh behind the “iron gates”. There are also stylistic coincidences, similar methods for determining the time period of the reign of the princes: in the “Tale of the Regiment” - “from old Volodimer to the present Igor”, and in the “Tale of Destruction” - “from the great Yaroslav to Volodimer”. The identity of the rhythmic structure of the works, based on the rhythm of homogeneous members, was also established, syntactic parallelisms, verbal repetitions. All this allowed us to assume that both works belonged to the same poetic school.
25. The originality of “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu” as a military story.
This story belongs to the best examples of military stories. It originated in the 13th century. and came to us in lists of the 14th-17th centuries. Compositionally, it consists of 4 parts: 1-independent plot about Batu’s arrival at the borders of the principality and the embassy of the son of the Ryazan prince Fyodor Yuryevich to him; 2-constructed as an event-type military story. A story about the gathering of troops, the battle, the defeat of Ryazan; 3-epic tale about the Ryazan nobleman Evpatiy Kolovrat. It is attached to the previous part chronologically. The genre is a military story. The beginning of the action is the arrival of Kolovrat in the devastated Ryazan, the climax is the duel with Khostovrul, the denouement is the death of the hero; 4th arrival in Ryazan of the brother of the deceased Prince Ingvar Ingvarevich. It is connected to the previous part by chronology. This part of the plot does not represent a single whole. This combines Ingvar's lament, praise for the family of the Ryazan princes, and a message about Ingvar's actions (about the funeral of his brother, about his enthronement in Ryazan and its reconstruction). Each part of the story has its own main character, who has power, shown both in battle (2-3 parts), and in worldly actions or spiritually (1-4 parts). This is one of the features of a military story. There are also other features of a military story. For example, the story describes the prince’s preparation for battle and his prayer. In the description of the battle itself there are a lot of military formulas: “I attacked, and began to fight hard and courageously,” “the slaughter of evil was swift and terrible,” “Batu’s strength is great and heavy, united with a thousand, and two with you,” etc. . Describing the battle of Evpatiy Kolovrat with the Tatars, the author uses the military formula: “Riding through the Tatar regiments bravely and courageously.” The first non-chronicle story that has come down to us, “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu,” is built on the basis of a sequential combination of a number of independent fragments connected by one central event—Batu’s ruin of the Ryazan principality. Its compositional structure corresponds to the canons of a military story. But the story clearly increases attention to the characters, each of whom acquires individual traits. The number of visual and expressive means is expanding, along with military formulas, tropes appear that express the author’s attitude to events and heroes.
26. Genre originality of “The Life of Alexander Nevsky”.
During the era of the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the genre of hagiography developed. The heroes of the works now became not only saints, apostles, martyrs, but also people who defended Rus' and the faith from infidel enemies. An example of such a life is “The Tale of the Life of Alexander Nevsky.” This life appeared around 1283, its author is unknown, but it is known that it was written in the Nativity Monastery. It has come down to us in many lists. The life was created even before Nevsky’s canonization, and initially it was a secular biography. Perhaps because of this ambiguity, the hagiography combined two genres: hagiography and a military story. Compositionally, the work has a hagiographic macrostructure - it consists of 3 parts. 1-introduction (self-deprecation is used, the author says that he knew Nevsky as an adult, that he writes with a pure soul). 2-central part (a story about miracles during the life and after the death of Alexander). 3-conclusion (praise to the prince). Contrary to the tradition of life, there is no story about Nevsky’s childhood, because the author did not know the hero at this age. The features of the military story can be traced in the central part. When the Swedish king attacked Novgorod, the prince goes to the temple, prays, and then gathers a squad. This is the tradition of a military story. But a new genre-vision is inserted into this part. Pelugy, standing guard, sees Boris and Gleb in red clothes, who promised to help Nevsky. Next, Pelugius reports this to the prince, he listens attentively and soon goes into battle. The actions of 6 warriors fighting under the leadership of Alexander are described in detail, which is also typical for an event-type military story. There is a mention of a miracle, but after it happened: the angel of the Lord allegedly killed many of Alexander’s opponents where he could not reach them. Descriptions of battles use military formulas, for example, “quickly cut evil” (battle with the Germans). But at the same time, it talks about Divine help to the prince, which is more suitable for life. The last episode tells about Alexander’s 2nd trip to the Horde and his death on the way back. The story ends with a story about the burial and a posthumous miracle: when Nevsky was lying in the coffin, the Metropolitan wanted to unclench his hand in order to enclose a spiritual letter. The prince, as if alive, unclenched his hand and took the letter from the hands of the metropolitan, neither accepting the horror nor retreating from him.” C6 structure “The Tale of the Life of Alexander Nevsky” is a work of a complex ensemble nature: inside the central part of the hagiography, independent military stories (event-based and informative types) are introduced as two episodes, which include genre formations characteristic of hagiographies - visions and miracles . The combination of life and military story is also in the style and language of the work: military formulas and living language are used by the author together, which is also a genre uniqueness of the work.
The originality of the genre “Tales of the murder of Mikhail of Chernigov and his boyar Fyodor in the Horde.”
The story was compiled in Rostov in the 60-70s. 13th century and was subsequently reworked several times. The story is based on real events of 1246. The author of the story combined the genre of historical story and hagiography-martyrium (a story about the last stage of the hero’s life). The story tells about the arrival of the Tatars in Southern Rus', about the trip of Russian people to the Horde and the performance of humiliating tasks in order to receive a label for reign. Having come to Rus', Batu began to convert everyone to his faith, saying that if the Russians bowed to their “idols”, bowed to him, then he would accept them. But Mikhail of Chernigov decided to go to the Horde to “die for Christ and for the orthodox faith.” His boyar Fyodor decides to go with him. They receive a blessing and go to the Horde. Arriving at the king, they say that Michael came to bow to him. Batu decided to subject them to humiliating tasks - to walk through the fire and bow to their idols. But Mikhail and Fyodor respond that this is unworthy of them, to which Batu became angry and said that he would kill them if they did not complete the task. But they pray to their God and accept the verdict. Hagiographic traditions in the story: an abundance of internal monologues of the characters, the author’s transmission of their thoughts and feelings. From a historical story in a work: really historical facts, logical-chronological three-part structure (preparation of the event - Batu’s attack, asking for Mikhail’s blessing to travel to the Horde; narration of the event - trip to the Horde and refusal of Batu’s conditions; consequences of the event - the murder of Fyodor and Mikhail), the author’s personality is not very clearly shown, his assessment of events is through individual remarks, sometimes biblical quotes. The language of the work is traditional for a historical story and hagiography - colloquial Old Russian and Church Slavonic, a moderate number of tropes, but many biblical quotations.
27. Traditions and innovation in historical works about the Battle of Kulikovo (chronicle stories, “The Tale of Mamaev’s Massacre”, “Zadonshchina”). Prokofiev’s article “Moral and aesthetic quests in the literature of the era of the Battle of Kulikovo.”
A feature of the monuments from the era of the Battle of Kulikovo is an attentive and humane attitude towards people. The depiction of figures of Russian history is losing its former officiality and grandeur. In the foreground are not only military merits, but also family life. Prokofiev noted: “In such an image, the Battle of Kulikovo appears not only as a state or national event, but also as a universal phenomenon, expressed through personal and family relationships. This is seen as one of the artistic discoveries of the era.” The assessments of what was happening were marked by particular emotionality. Also literary styles of the 14th and 15th centuries. were largely the result of creative assimilation of their own pre-Mongol experience. The Battle of Kulikovo is reflected in literature. Almost all chronicles of this period depicted the Battle of Kulikovo in military stories. The trends in the development of the genre were expressed most clearly in two types of stories: lengthy and short. The short story was included in the “Rogozhsky Chronicler” and is an informative work with a traditional 3-part structure. Considerable space is devoted to the 3rd part - the consequences of the battle. But new details also appear: the list of dead at the end of the story; techniques of stringing together homogeneous tropes (“the godless, evil and Horde prince, the filthy Mamai”) and combining tautological phrases (“the dead are countless in number”). The lengthy story was preserved as part of the Novgorod 4th Chronicle. The composition of the factual information is the same as in the summary, but... This is an event-type story; the author has increased the number of compositional elements characterizing the heroes. The number of prayers of the main character increases: before the battle - 3, after the battle - a prayer of gratitude. Another lyrical fragment, previously unused, also appears - the lament of Russian wives. A variety of figurative and expressive means are also used, especially vivid in relation to enemies: “dark raw foodist Mamai”, the apostate Oleg Ryazansky, “soul-destroying”, “bloodsucking peasant”. The descriptions of the Battle of Kulikovo itself in all the stories are distinguished by their emotionality, which is created by the author’s exclamations and the inclusion in the text of landscape elements that have not previously been used. All these features make the narrative more plot-motivated and emotionally intense. There are also 2 stories about the Battle of Kulikovo: “The Legend of Mamaev's massacre" and "Zadonshchina". The composition of “Tales” structurally follows the tradition of a military story, but the narrative consists of a number of separate episodes-micro-plots, interconnected by plot-motivated or chronological inserts, which is an innovation. Also new is manifested in the author’s desire to show the personality of each character individually and show his role throughout the story. The characters are divided into main (Dmitry Ivanovich, Vladimir Andreevich and Mamai), secondary (Sergius of Radonezh, Dmitry Bobrok, Oleg Ryazansky, etc.) and episodic (Metropolitan Cyprian, Thomas Katsibey, etc.). Also a compositional feature is the many lyrical fragments (prayers, lamentations) and natural descriptions. A vision also appears in the text. A new descriptive element appears - an image of the Russian army, as the princes saw it from the hill. Along with the preservation of military formulas, many epithets and comparisons are used, and the role of metaphors is enhanced, emphasizing the experiences of the heroes. The author of “Zadonshchina” took “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” as a model. Boyan is also mentioned in the introduction, and at the end the time of the event is established (“And from the Kalat army to the Mamaev massacre is 160 years”). The further text as a whole is traditional - a 3-part structure. But within each part, the narrative is built on the basis of individual episodes-pictures, alternating with the author’s digressions. The story contains documentary elements, the use of digital data, and lists. There are minor deviations from the chronology, which is unconventional for a military story. Lyrical fragments are few in number, according to the canons of a military story. There are no detailed descriptions of the characters (except for Dmitry Ivanovich), and the enemies are described quite schematically. The folklore influence is visible in the use of negative comparisons (“You were not gray wolves, but you came to the foot of the Tatars, they want to go through the whole Russian land fighting”). “Zadonshchina” is a monument created at the intersection of traditions: folklore, military tales and “The Lay”. But the tradition of the military story should still be recognized as the leading one.
28. “Zadonshchina” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Artistic connections and the problem of the genre of works.
The author of "Zadonshchina" took "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" as a model for the narrative. But, despite this, “Zadonshchina” is an independent work of art. The introduction is focused mainly on the Lay; it mentions Boyan, previously known only from the text of the Lay. But the part ends with establishing the time of the event: “And from the Kalat army to the Momayev massacre is 160 years.” The further text as a whole repeats the 3-part structure of the military story, but within each part the narration is built on the basis of individual episodes-pictures, alternating with the author’s digressions, which are focused on the “Word”. But in “Zadonshchina” there are documentary elements that are absent in “The Lay”. There are also similarities in the portrayal of the main characters. Prince Dmitry in “Zadonshchina” is an ideal hero. This is a continuation of the traditions of the Lay, the image of Svyatoslav as an ideal hero. In “Zadonshchina” there are many borrowings from “The Lay”. For example, there are many historical digressions in The Lay, and there are also in Zadonshchina (but much less). For example, predicting the outcome of a battle: “Shibla glory to the Iron Gates.” Or the words of Peresvet and Oslyabli, which could only have been spoken at the beginning of the battle (Peresvet died), are given after it. Another common place is crying. In “The Lay” there is the cry of Yaroslavna, and in “Zadonshchina” there is the cry of Russian wives. But their meanings are different. Yaroslavna's cry is symbolic, and the cry of the Russian wives breaks up the narrative of the battle to add additional emotional nuance. There are also commonplaces in the descriptions and speech of the characters. In the “Word” Igor says that “Lutsezh would have died without being destroyed.” And in “Zadonshchina” Peresvet almost word for word repeats these words: “We would rather be sweaty than be overwhelmed by the filthy Tatars.” “Zadonshchina” is a synthesis of a military story, folklore and “The Lay”. But the tradition of the military story prevails in it, which forces us to define its genre as a military story. “The Word” also combines several genres, which has led to the problem of defining its genre. It was close to both folklore and written genres (military stories, songs, solemn eloquence). But its genre is defined as a lyric-epic song.
29. Lives written by Epiphanius the Wise. The reasons for the emergence and basic techniques of the “weaving words” style.
30.Literary features and significance in the development of the genre of the military story “Nestor Iskander’s Tale of the Capture of Constantinople by the Turks.” Work by A.S. Orlov “On the peculiarities of the form of Russian military stories.”
This work belongs to the military stories of the era of the Battle of Kulikovo. It tells the story of the fall of the Christian Byzantine Empire in 1453 under the onslaught of the Turks and the transformation of the capital of the Orthodox world, Constantinople, into a Muslim city. The story became widespread in Rus' and was included in a number of chronicles of the 16th century, influencing the further development of military stories. The work consists of two parts. 1-prologue of events. A story about the founding of Constantinople, a sign that predicted the fate of this city (a fight between a snake and an eagle with the victory of the first, the symbol of Islam; but then people kill the snake), about the beauty and greatness of Constantinople. 2-main plot - a story about the siege and capture of the city by the Turks. This part corresponds to the canons of a military story. The description of the gathering of troops is very abstract. The central narrative lists military events. The plot is linear, traditional for a military story. But it is complicated by descriptions of many events. The author describes every day of the Turks' attack on the city, the battles, and the advice of the emperor and his entourage on further actions. And this is how every day of the siege is described. Here comes the motif of fate, predestination from the very beginning (a sign). The descriptions are very emotionally intense, which is enhanced by two signs - the departure of the patron angel of the city from the Church of Sophia (the central cathedral), and then the bloody rain. The last part of the story is a story about the death of the city and the fate of the townspeople. A prophecy is also introduced here: just as people killed the snake that strangled the eagle, so in the future Christians will have to defeat Muslims and revive Christianity in the city. Thus, military event becomes part of the history of the Christian city, represented in its most important events. This is expanded (The shock is akin to “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamaev.”
The text contains detailed descriptions of 4 heroes: Constantine, Patriarch Anastasius, Zustuney and Sultan Magomed. The image of the main character is traditional for military legends, the RN is courageous (decides to die along with the city), defends his hometown until his last breath. But a new approach is also visible in his depiction: the author seeks to convey the depth of his feelings through prayers, crying, and depictions of manifestations of his mental state. Patriarch Anastasius constantly supports the Tsar. His image is similar to the image of Cyprian from “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev” - this is the support of the fight against enemies by the Orthodox Church. Zustunei is a minor character, but his special role is that he alone responded to Constantine’s request for help from foreign states. This is the embodiment of the ideal image of a warrior, “brave and wise, and skilled in military affairs.” Magomed is presented in an unusual way. In the beginning, everything is traditional - he is “.faithless and deceitful.” But then his characterization changes - he is shown as a powerful ruler who has gathered enormous forces for the campaign, an experienced and patient commander. After the capture of the city, he shows generosity - he forgives all civilians, and at the sight of Constantine’s head he pays tribute to him: “Obviously you, the God of the world, gave birth to a king, rather than perish in vain.” In the description of battle scenes, the author does not strive for a detailed depiction of events; there are no landscape elements. The descriptions are based on military formulas: “the slaughter was evil and terrible,” “one was one thousand, and two was one thousand.” The story of Nestor-Iskander, using traditions, complicates the plot due to the introduction of twists and turns, a tendency towards some expansion of the circle of characters and greater versatility in their depiction; the depiction of the enemy undergoes significant changes. The author creates a narrative using stylistic techniques of an emotionally expressive nature, previously used only in hagiographies. Thus, the military narrative in Rus' begins to become more complex, not without the influence of this story. There is a convergence of the image of the main positive hero with the image of the ideal hero of the princely life. It is the non-chronicle stories of this era that are the prerequisites for the creation of a new type of large-scale historical story.
31. The originality of Novgorod historical and legendary stories of the 15th century. (The Tale of the Mayor Shchila, The Tale of the Journey of John of Novgorod on a Demon to Jerusalem).
The genre of fictional story emerges in the era of the Battle of Kulikovo. It had its source in Novgorod historical and fictional stories, which were based on local legends. In the first place in them was the plot's entertainingness, the absence of pronounced didacticism. Among such stories are “The Tale of Posadnik Shchila” and “The Tale of Ivan’s Journey on a Demon.” “The Tale of a Journey” is built on the basis of two miracles: traveling on a demon and saving Ivan from the slander that the demon brought upon him. The oral legend of this arose very early. The plot of this legend—the service of a demon to a man cursed with the sign of the cross—goes back to the fabulous folklore of Ancient Rus'. This story came to us as part of the “Life of John,” which belongs to the Patericon, which consisted of 3 parts, the 2nd of which was a travel story. The story begins with the words that it was “God who created” the fact that the demon ended up in a vessel with water in John’s cell. Next comes the story of the demon making the sign of the cross and John’s journey to Jerusalem. After returning back, the demon tells John to remain silent about this incident, otherwise “the imam will bring temptation upon you.” But he did not fulfill the request and the demon punished him: the demon was transformed into a harlot and left the saint’s cell when others saw it. Soon John was expelled for this. But then, when everything was revealed, people wanted to return the saint and ask him for forgiveness. Because of their prayers, John’s raft floated to the shore, “as if carried through the air.” Then the consequences are told: the prince of Novgorod put up a cross at the place where the saint sailed. The story ends with a biblical quote - the words of Christ about those expelled “for the sake of truth.” The Tale of Posadnik Shchila traces the heretical views of the Strigolniks. This story has a wonderful character. Posadnik Shchil was rich and built the church with interest from loans to other people. When he went to the archbishop to ask to consecrate this church, he had to tell where the money for the construction came from. The Archbishop became angry and said that Shield “has become like Esau; I would like to take a blessing from me for such a divine deed,” and ordered Shield to go home, build a coffin in the wall and lie down in it, and the funeral service was performed over him as it should be. The shield did just that, after which it suddenly fell into the ground. His son went to the saint for help. The saint ordered him to draw a picture on the wall depicting Shield in hell. The son did so, after which he performed a memorial service 3 times for 40 days and distributed alms (according to the teachings of the saint). First, in the picture, Shield's head came out of hell, then his body, and then the whole thing came out. After this, the coffin in which the Shield had fallen came to the surface. And the archbishop, seeing this miracle, consecrated the church. In this story, a miracle comes first: a miracle sudden disappearance Shield and the miracle of his exit from hell with Divine help. This story arose on the basis of oral legendary tradition.
32. “Walking across 3 seas” - the first merchant voyage.
The genre of “walking”, which arose at the beginning of the 12th century, until the end of the 15th century. Continued to exist as a pilgrimage. Russian travelers described their visits to the holy places of Christianity. Each author brought something of his own to this genre. Significant changes began to occur in the era of the Battle of Kulikovo, when interests in holy places began to be replaced by interest in events modern life. A new one has appeared genre variety- merchant "walkings". It became widespread in the 16th and 17th centuries. the object of the image was the impressions of travelers about the countries where they visited for trading purposes. The range of phenomena described has expanded noticeably - everyday life, customs in the countries described. Descriptions of shrines and legends have disappeared. The composition of the walks resembled diary entries. The narrator's personality was revealed more widely through his assessments and emotions. The language was distinguished by its simplicity, abundance of colloquial vocabulary, proverbs and sayings, and foreign language vocabulary. The first merchant walk that came down to us was “The Walk across 3 Seas” by Afanasy Nikitin. At the beginning, there is no self-abasement traditional for the pilgrimage, other than the “sinful walk.” The introduction is a listing of the seas through which he sailed, completely missing
Tatars. 2-way from Derbent to India. The geographical names of the places he visited during this time are listed here. There are practically no descriptions. 3-description of a journey through India. There are a lot of descriptions here, there are stories about the cities he visited and the time it takes to get from one to the other. Afanasy talks about life in India, about the climate, customs and way of life, describing everything national (clothing, animals, food) in Russian words so that he is better understood. 4-story about a trip to your homeland. It is characterized by listing the main geographical features and travel times with short descriptions. In conclusion, the author mentions the 3 seas passed and a prayer in a mixture of oriental languages. The predominant principle of narration is chronological. The image of the narrator corresponds to the merchant tradition. Having expanded his range of interests, he meets a lot of new people. The author is third to someone else's, although it is not easy for him. He counts time based on Orthodox holidays (mainly Easter). He suffers from the fact that he cannot fulfill Orthodox customs: “I don’t know the Nativity of Christ, I don’t know other holidays, I don’t know Wednesday or Friday, but I don’t have a book,” etc. The image of his homeland is constantly present in his thoughts, he praises it (though in a mixture of oriental languages), his exclamations are frequent: “May the Russian land be preserved by God! God save her! There is no country like it in this world, although the boyars of the Russian land are unjust.” The author constantly asks God for forgiveness for not keeping fasts. In fact, the author becomes the main character of the work, appearing as an original personality. The language used is colloquial Old Russian, almost devoid of Church Slavonic elements. Foreign words are widely used, even in prayers. In general, the style of walking is the style of a living story by a person who can vividly and clearly describe his impressions. The object of the story also changes - now it is the life of people, their morals and way of life.
33. The emergence of the fictional story genre. Principles of composition and folklore subjects in “The Tale of Dracula.”
The genre of fictional stories arose during the era of the Battle of Kulikovo. It had its source in Novgorod historical and fictional stories, which were based on local legends. In 1st place was the plot's entertaining nature and the lack of pronounced didacticism. Fictional stories with fictional plots. Most of the heroes had historical prototypes, but they either lived in the past or were very far away. The plots go back to folklore. In these stories, the author did not express his attitude to the events. The plots were built either on the principle of a chain or on the principle of open compositions. These stories were originally intended to be exciting reading. The first of these stories is “The Tale of the Mutyansk Governor Dracula.” Its plot is based on oral legends that existed in Europe about the Romanian prince Vlad, who was nicknamed “Tepes” and “Dracula” for his cruelty. The composition of the work is interesting. This is a chain of separate stories about the actions of Dracula. Moreover, the author refrains from evaluating his actions, leaving the right to the reader to do so. Only once does the author talk about his cunning and the fact that Dracula is the namesake of the devil. The story begins with the words that once upon a time there lived in the land of Mutyansk such a ruler, Dracula, and that he was cruel. Then a chain of stories begins, one after another. And at the end it talks about the captivity of Dracula by the Hungarian king and his torture of birds and mice in prison. And after his release, Dracula did not change his character, killing the bailiff who allowed the robber into his yard. The story ends with the story of the death of Dracula and his son Vlad. The story contains a folklore motif of riddles. For example, in the story about how 2 Catholic monks came to Dracula, and he asked each of them what they thought about his deeds. One said that he acted wrongly, because the sovereign should be merciful. The second replied that those executed did evil and were punished according to their deserts, because the sovereign punishes and pardons only for the cause. Dracula impaled the first one and rewarded the second one. There is also another story when an ambassador came to Dracula, and the sovereign showed him a gilded stake and asked what he thought this stake was for. The ambassador replied that it was for a noble person. Dracula replied that what he said was true, and this stake is for him. To which the ambassador said that if he had offended Dracula, then let the sovereign do as he wants. For this, Dracula rewarded the ambassador and released him. And in the same story it directly says that he had such a custom of asking riddles to ambassadors. And if they answered incorrectly, they were executed, and a letter was sent to their king so that in the future they would not send bad ambassadors to Dracula. The plot of this story is traditional for its genre. The main character has real prototype, the plot is based on legends and folklore, and the composition looks like a chain of plots. Also, the work does not contain a direct author’s assessment, which is also traditional for fiction stories.
34. The problem of the genre “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”.
It was created in the mid-16th century (but for a long time it was attributed to the 15th century) by the priest and publicist Ermolai-Erasmus. In theory, this work was created as a hagiography. But it was not recognized as a life due to numerous deviations from the canon in the central part, and in the process of reworking it became a story. The basis of its plot was formed on the basis of two oral-poetic, fairy-tale motifs - about the hero-snake fighter and the wise maiden, widespread in folklore. The source of the plot was a local legend about a wise peasant girl who became a princess. Folk tradition had a strong influence on Ermolai-Erasmus, and he created a work not associated with the canons of the hagiographic genre: it is a fascinating narrative narrative, not much like the lives of saints with their exploits and martyrdom for the glory of the church. ‘ The work consists of 4 parts, plot-related. 1-story about the snake fighter. 2-heroes go to get a doctor for the victim of the snake. They meet a girl who speaks in riddles. What follows is the motif of riddles and
tests. 3-life of Peter and Fevronia in marriage, there are elements of folklore narrative. 4-story about the death of Peter and Fevronia and the posthumous miracle. The problem with genre is that a work combines many elements from different genres. The work does not say anything about the childhood of the heroes (unconventional for life), in all parts it can be traced folklore motives. For example, a fairy-tale plot about a snake-fighting hero, the motif of riddles, when Fevronia says that “it’s not right for a house to have no ears and a temple to have no ears” (a dog has ears at home, a child has eyes at home) and when asked where her family answers : “Father and matipoidosha borrow posters. My brother went through his legs in Navi to see,” which means “mother and father went to the funeral, and my brother went to beekeeping.” There is also a folklore motif in the 3rd part, when Fevronya, after a meal, collects crumbs in her hand, and then they turn into incense and incense. This is an echo of the fairy tale about the frog princess, when leftovers turned into swans and a lake. And the departure of Peter and Fevronia from Murom, and then the nobles’ request for their return, also has an echo in the folk tale. But the work also has a spiritual side, characteristic of hagiography. Peter and Fevronia do not talk about love, because Peter does not even want to marry her at first. Their marriage is not carnal, but spiritual and is based on keeping the commandments. Fevronia performs miracles thanks to her spirituality. Another element of life is the posthumous miracle, when Peter and Fevronia, contrary to their dying instructions, are buried in different places, but overnight they still find themselves together in a coffin for two, which remains empty. And their death in one hour is also something unusual, which can only be characteristic of saints. The combination of folklore, hagiography and story elements in one work makes the work multifaceted, but this is the author’s special skill and innovation in literature.
35. “Kazan History” as a new type of historical narrative. Using experience from different genres in a work.
The historical story “Kazan History” was written in the mid-60s 1* in It belongs to the best examples of ancient Russian fiction and occupies a special place in the formation of new forms of historical narration. It poetizes the power of a single centralized state, the activities of Ivan the Terrible and his supporters, and the annexation of the Kazan kingdom to the Moscow state. The author is trying to create a new type of narrative with a clearly expressed ideological plan, theme and a clearly expressed position of the author. “History” consists of several short stories connected by chronology. The introduction talks about the purpose of the work - to tell about the history of the Kazan kingdom and its relationship with Russia. The author speaks about the innovation of the story: “this red ubon story is worthy for us to joyfully listen to.” The author calls Ivan 4 chosen by God, clearly expressing author's position . The central part splits into 2 subparts: before the campaigns of Ivan the Terrible and after that. In subpart 1, the narrative follows a chronological path: the beginning of the Kazan kingdom, where folklore motifs about a two-headed snake and a hero-snake fighter who defeated him with the help of magic are traced; The main characters are the Moscow and Kazan kings. The plot is built on the principle of antithesis - Russian victories are replaced by defeats, the action is constantly transferred from Moscow to Kazan and back. This subpart uses a combination of local microplots. There are many military stories of both types here, brought into the general course of events. Basis 2 subparts - stories about the campaigns of Ivan the Terrible. They are presented in the form of military stories with an idealized main character, Ivan 4. But the narrative is multi-figured, Kazan rulers, warriors, and boyars act in it. This part contains less dating of events, but many symbolic elements: signs, visions, wonders. For example, the dream of the Kazan king, where the bright month absorbs the dark one, and the animals that came to Kazan eat the Kazan animals, which predicts future events. Also the vision of Ivan 4 about the construction of Sviyazhsk and the departure of the patron demon of the city from the mosque. They play different roles in the episode. A significant place is occupied by genres traditional for ancient military history: laments (the tribute to the Kazan queen Sumbeki), praises, prayers. Sumbeki's cry addressed to Kazan plays a symbolic role, predicting his death. The “History” ends with chapters in which praise is given to Kazan, the Principality of Moscow and Ivan 4. The author evaluates the significance of the victory, speaking about the Beauty of Moscow, the OGR of the kingdom. The author's innovation can be traced in the image of the main character - Ivan the Terrible is depicted in many ways, his actions and thoughts are shown in different situations. His desire to avoid bloodshed was noted, which was not the case before, as shown in the tsar’s seven embassies to Kazan. All this speaks about the author’s approach to creating character, although the main method of creating the image of the king—idealization—remains. The image of episodic characters also changes: there was no distinction between positive and negative on national and religious grounds. A traitor can be either one of your own or a stranger, and both will be punished. The images of the troops are also drawn in an unusual way: the author often emphasizes the determination of the enemies, evoking respect for them. And the capture of the city by the Russian army is more like a plunder. The author's attitude is also innovative - he expresses his opinion much more actively, which is shown in the introduction and conclusion, digressions, which are most often of a summary nature. Innovation is also manifested in style: the widespread use of tropes, metaphors, military formulas lose their meaning (spreads them in other words, which destroys them). “History” made extensive use of the traditions of life, military stories, walking, teaching, symbolic and lyrical genre formations. A military tale: a combination of local microplots (“The Tale of Mamaev’s Massacre”); indication of the landscape at the time of day; the combination of the traits of a commander with Christian traits in the main character; a vision of the departure of the patron demon of their city, the penetration of rhetorical techniques into the pictures of the battle-traditions of “The Tale of the Capture of Constantinople.” Life: mention of the virtues of Ivan 4, characteristic of him since childhood; rhetorical devices. Walking: static descriptions of nature expressing the author's admiration. Teachings: artistic means used in laments. Due to such an abundance of genres, it is impossible to decide the genre of a work.
36. Main problems in journalism of the 16th century. The originality of the journalistic creativity of Maxim the Greek.
The ideological orientation of the literature of the Muscovite kingdom predetermined the rapid development of journalism. In journalism, works devoted to topical topics of public life were widely distributed. Areas of journalistic problems: problems related to the formation of an autocratic state (the appearance of the autocrat, the relationship of different classes, the problem of the relationship between royal and church power), church problems (the fight against heresy, the problem of intra-church land ownership, problems of moral character).
One of the most famous publicists was Maxim Grek. He owns a huge literary heritage. In one of his works, “The Word of Maximus the Greek,” the main literary device is allegory. This is also an allegory in genre. At the center of the narrative is the image of the Wife, this is power, Vasily (from Greek, “kingdom”). The main narrative is based on the conversation between the Greek and the Wife. The Greek is depicted as a traveler who meets his wife and asks about her sorrows, but she does not want to tell anything, saying that he will not help her anyway. But still, the narrator persuades her, and she says that her name is Vasily, she is one of the daughters of the king, from whom “every good gift comes and every gift is given to the sons of men.” She talks about how she saw the exploitation of people, and that rulers must follow God's laws, otherwise wars and hardships await everyone. The originality of the Greek's journalism lies precisely in the fact that the main idea of his work is uttered not by himself, but by the allegory, the Wife. This had not been seen in his works before. The Greek claims that a monk must live according to Christian precepts. The work has a clear parable beginning. Another word by Maxim the Greek - “about alien philosophers” - talks about how it is necessary to check the preparedness of Russian translators who come from abroad. Moreover, he gives all this advice to people who will receive visitors “as per my death.” He offers to give visitors his translations so that they can try to “translate according to my translation.” And if he can, then he is a good translator, and if not, then you also need to find out his ability to determine poetic meters. In this word, the Greek makes it clear that he considers his works to be a model, in which he shows innovation, because before him, it was traditional for authors to self-depreciate, but the Greek not only does not follow this canon, but also exalts himself. In “The Word of Praise of the Blessed and Saints, let not the books of grammar be called, as if they were spoken on behalf of her,” Maxim the Greek writes about the importance of grammar for people, praising it. Moreover, here again the allegory is traced, which is revealed at the very end - now the Greek himself is presented in the role of grammar. He calls on everyone to listen to him and follow his advice, citing examples from antiquity and mentioning Christian writers of the past. Maxim Grek's innovation in the field of journalism is very great: he introduced allegory into journalism and renounced traditional self-deprecation. And his thoughts and advice are generally very relevant and useful.
Criticism of the addressee's style in Kurbsky's second message. The polemical correspondence between Kurbsky and Grozny reflects the clash of two social positions - the high-born boyars and the serving nobility, asserting the need for strong autocratic power. The messages are different in their style—abstractly reasonable and resourceful for Kurbsky and concrete, rude and sarcastic for Ivan the Terrible. In the first message, Kurbsky accuses the tsar of cruelty and oppression of himself, and says that the tsar will have to answer for everything at the Last Judgment. He asks: “Why, O king, did you beat up the mighty men of Israel and betray you to various deaths by the commander given to you by God?” etc. The message is written in an angry, sarcastic style. In response to this, Ivan the Terrible writes an extensive message in which he calls the addressee a false teacher who has illegally usurped the right to instruct the monarch and his subjects. Grozny reproduces individual remarks of Kurbsky and invariably refutes them. The message is created as a kind of confession of faith and principles of the Russian autocracy. Grozny parodies the style of the addressee, his structure of thoughts and literary style. The king ridicules all his arguments, distorting them and ridiculing them ironically. For example, Kurbsky in his message speaks of the blood shed for the Tsar on the battlefield, and Grozny ironically plays on these words, saying that the Tsar is not guilty of shed blood, and that a Christian should not regret the feat in the name of the Motherland. Grozny repeats key phrases, building a series of associations in the form of negative parallelism. Grozny refutes all accusations against him, guided by the Bible, like Kurbsky. In his second letter to the Tsar, Kurbsky criticizes the “broadcast and noisy” letter of Ivan the Terrible, declaring brevity the main criterion of the author’s literary training. Kurbsky considers unacceptable the excessive quoting of “parameiniki” - 1schgzl from the Old Testament, violation of the etiquette of correspondence and the abundance of quotes from his own letter, which he tells the Tsar about. The style of this message is no longer so caustic and angry. Kurbsky reconciles himself with some statements, saying that he has already come to terms with oppression, “let God be your judge on this.” Kurbsky says: “I no longer understand what we want.” The style is close to didactic, Kurbsky reflects on the actions of Ivan the Terrible, but does not condemn them so brightly, relying on God's help: “And for this reason, let us wait a little, because I believe that the coming of Jesus Christ is near.” Ivan the Terrible's second message also uses stylized parodies and irony. He, imitating Kurbsky, begins to complain: “I have received colic of misfortune from you, colic of insult, colic of annoyance and reproach! And for what? He parodies the humble style of Kurbsky, the style of his message approaches self-deprecation. This correspondence was the most interesting document of the era and constituted important stage history of Russian journalism of the 16th-17th centuries.
38. Generalizing literary works of the middleXVIV. Ideological idea stylistic originality, the meaning of monuments
General stylistic traditions and significance of monuments. In 1547-1549. There is a church-wide canonization of many Russian saints who were previously considered locally revered. This action required documentary and spiritual justification. For this purpose, Metropolitan Macarius carries out his plan - to collect all books of religious content approved in Russia - and creates the “Great Chetya Menaion”. For this purpose, about 60 lives of new canonized saints, written in a rhetorical style, were compiled. But there is no longer any historical information left about these saints, so the chroniclers made up facts and wrote in the likeness of other lives. The “Cheti-Minea” included: lives; books of the Holy Scriptures and interpretations on them; patericon; works of South Slavic and Russian writers, recognized as models; collection “The Bee”, “The Tale of the Devastation of Jerusalem”, “The Walking of Abbot Daniel”. The most important event in the spiritual life of the mid-16th century. The creation of the “Stoglavy Cathedral” also appeared. It was called upon to regulate all aspects of spiritual and practical life. His decrees concerned church land ownership, norms of social order, private life of the clergy, etc. His goal was to create the foundations of a unified state and introduce order into Russian life. This council was distinguished by its stern and doctrinal didacticism. It wrote about what icon painting should be like (focused on Rublev), church books (necessarily corrected). Regulation tasks family life served as "Domostroy". The author has not been precisely identified, but it is believed that the priest of the Annunciation Cathedral, Sylvester, had a hand in this book. The source of Domostroi were biblical texts, Chrysostom, documentary records and, possibly, observations. The book regulated everyday life Orthodox man. Often its significance is limited to the practical side, but the most important task of the house-building was to translate into real life the idea of the soul-bearing nature of royal power. The task is to raise a submissive subject and an exemplary Christian, to create a unified model of life in Russia. The genre of “House Construction” is spiritual teaching. His style is distinguished by didacticism and morality. Its chapters can be divided into 3 groups: defining a person’s relationship to spiritual and secular authority; worldly structure (family life structure); house building (tips on housekeeping). Sylvester added chapter 64, where he gave advice based on his experience. The main defining features of this literature were universality, encyclopedicism, didactic and polemical orientation. The scribes of this time generalized the experience of their predecessors, combining historical subjects, parables, and teachings into large monumental ensembles. Also, their works provided a new aesthetic design for the main ideological ideas of the time.
39. Development of the genre of walking in the 16-17 centuries. "Trifon Korobeinikov's walk to Constantinople."
In the 16th century Along with merchants' travels, embassy travel notes began to appear, called “item lists” or “lists”. They contained the issues on which negotiations were conducted and recorded the etiquette of the embassy reception. The structure of the ambassador's narratives was more fully characterized by Prokofiev. He said that they begin by indicating the time and place where the embassy is sent and for whose purpose, and the route is described. In the central part, he pointed to descriptions of the reception ceremony and descriptions of negotiations. He also mentioned inserting descriptions of landscape and everyday life into the story. These works acquired elements business style, combined with traditional colloquial vocabulary. The text also included the speeches of the characters, detailed description course of events, which made the story less DYNAMIC, BUT more ACCURATE. In “The Walk of Trifon Korobeinikov,” the convergence of pilgrimage walking with two new types is traced. The circulation begins with a message about the departure time of Tryphon and a description of its route, indicating the distance between points. The main text is divided into travel essays, which tell about a specific locality or section of the route. The descriptions are businesslike and brief, attention is drawn to the size of the city, the material of the buildings (“the town of Orsha is stone”, “the town of Borisov Drevyan is small”), the presence of trading areas and methods of protecting the cities: “And the Menska-Slutsk city has better trades and people, and the city has the gates and at the prison there are collars and archers with guns, but they won’t let a foreigner into the prison without telling them)). This is reminiscent of merchants' walks. Descriptions of nature and detailed descriptions of topography, traditional for pilgrimage, also appear. An element of the ambassadorial article list (“On the passage of Russian ambassadors to the sovereign of Voloshesk Aaron”) is also introduced into circulation: “on the 13th day of March at 3 o’clock at night,” it is said how the ambassadors were received: “And in the room a locker was made, in the man’s belt, carpets; and on the locker the Voloshsky sovereign sits in place.” The story “About the Tours Mosque and about the dervyshes who have monks in our place” is reminiscent of an everyday sketch. Attention is drawn to the clothes and appearance of people: “mustaches, and braids, and eyebrows are shaved”; the life of the “chambers” for wanderers is described in detail. 2 essays in “Walking” are devoted to a description of the shrines of Constantinople. The “Tale of the Tsar City is not about everything” describes in detail the location of the city, mentioning the main shrines: Noah’s axe, the pillar of Constantine Flavius, the Temple of Sophia, etc. The author recalls the legend about the departure of the city's patron angel, retelling it in his own way. Mention is made of the plight of the Orthodox Church and the Patriarch. In the second essay, “On the destruction of the temple of St. George,” a legend is given about the miracle of St. George, who defended his temple from the Turkish king, and not only the preservation of the temple, but also the mercy of the Sultan to his servants is called a miracle. The story is dynamic and concise, with extensive use of dialogue. At the end, the Blachernae Church, the monasteries of Pantocrator, and the Apocalypse are mentioned. “Walking” cannot be classified into a specific type. It refers to social travel, because... Most of the information is not related to religious purposes. There is no clear author's assessment. The language is traditional for “walking” - colloquial vocabulary and phraseological units, a few foreign words, always with translation. There is a tendency towards the creation of a secular type of walking, as well as the combination of various genre features in order to create a documentary and interesting narrative.
40. Main directions of development in literature about the Troubles. The artistic originality of “The Tale of the Death and Burial of M.V. Skopin-Shuisky.
The literature of this time is divided into 2 stages: 1-before 1613. Journalistic works, small in volume, one-sidedly representing the heroes. Lyrical and symbolic genres and business documents were combined. This stage includes " New story about the glorious Russian Kingdom”, “The Tale of the Death and Burial of Skopin-Shuisky. 2-20s 17th centuries The works tell about the entire Time of Troubles, strive for an objective assessment of events, and pay special attention to historical figures. This literature combines genres in different ways. These include the “Chronicle Book”, “Vremennik” by Ivan Timofeev, “The Tale of Vraam Palitsev”. In 17th century literature. new relationships are established between the historical and the fictional. The stories based on historical names contain fiction; facts of Russian history are combined with motifs from fairy tales and legends. The fictional characters operate in a setting typical of Russian society in the 17th century. situations, the existential and the everyday form a single alloy, which indicates the rapprochement of literature with life. A striking example of such evolution is the “Tale of the Death and Burial of Prince Skopin-Shuisky,” full of rumors and legends. The unexpected death of a young military leader with a heroic physique struck the consciousness of his contemporaries and gave rise to the birth of the legend of his poisoning. The author of the story also adheres to it, saturating the narrative with motives coming from folk songs and laments. The plot is this: at the feast of Prince Vorotynsky, Maria Shuiskaya brings him a deadly drink, and that was “a fierce mortal drink.” The idea of poisoning is compared to “catching a treacherous thought like a bird in the forest, like frying a lynx.” And Mikhail dies on the night of April 23-24, in which the author sees symbolism, because... takes place “from the days of the great warrior and passion-bearer George to the days of the governor Sava Stratshat.” This comparison was supposed to “sanctify” the image of the Russian military leader, making him the moral ideal of the Time of Troubles. Skopin-Shuisky appears epic hero, the author masterfully uses comparisons and poetic means folk epic. The prince is called the “heavenly sun”, which the warriors cannot “get enough of”. His power is exaggerated - in the whole state they cannot find a coffin for him: “an oak block.” Michael is compared to King David and Samson. A lot of hyperbole is used in describing the grief of the people-people following the coffin as many as the “stars of heaven”; the lament for it is described: “from the people there are screams and wails, a lot of voices singing the tombstone, and not being able to hear the voices of those singing,” but about To those who heard all this, it is said: “Even if the heart is forged and made of stone, even that one will be poured out in pity.” The crying of the mother, close to a folk tale, the crying of the Swedish military leader, traditional for high oratory, and the crying of the Russian people gives the story a special emotional coloring. It is repeated several times that the singing could not be heard because of the crying. At the end there is a vision predicting the death of Skopin-Shuisky, which violates the chronology, because it was “15 days after the feast of the Resurrection of Christ.” It is told by a resident of the city, having learned about the death of Mikhail, saying that it “came true at this present time.”
41.Literary activity of Archpriest Avvakum. Stylistics and genre originality of “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum, written by himself.”
Avvakum is the author of more than 80 works, some of which have not reached us. His works: “Book of Conversations”, “Book of Interpretations”, petitions to Alexei Mikhailovich and Fyodor Alekseevich, letters, messages, etc. His work is permeated with a passionate denunciation of the official church and secular autocratic power from the position of a supporter of the Old Believers. He became an innovator in the literary field in terms of style and principles of literary depiction, although he was an opponent of innovation in art. His most famous work, “Life,” is an autobiography. In his introduction, Avvakum writes about the influence of his confessor Epiphanius on him and follows the traditional method of self-abasement. The style of his life is similar to confessional, because he blurs the line between himself and the reader, creating an atmosphere of empathy. Likhachev defined Avvakum’s style as a style of pathetic simplification - “grounding” the high (the story of the miraculous feeding of the prisoner, when Avvakum does not know whether it was an angel or a man) and poeticization of the low (the story about the death of a chicken, which “brought 2 eggs a day for food "). It goes beyond the traditional framework of hagiography: the heroes of the work are not clearly sinners or righteous. Habakkuk himself almost succumbs to temptation when a harlot comes to him, which had never happened before in the hagiographic tradition. And the image of the harlot herself is multifaceted - she is a sinner, but she came to confess - and this somewhat “cleanses” her. Habakkuk creates a new image - a “holy sinner”, which leads to a combination of two narrative plans: the author’s solemn sermon and repentant confession. Habakkuk combined church language, swearing, and colloquial language. Another facet of the innovation of life is the combination of the comic and tragic. When the archpriest describes returning from exile, talks about crossing the river, when the archpriest loses her strength and falls, another person trips over her and also falls on her. He apologizes, to which she replies: “What, daddy, did you run over me?” Describing the horrors of his imprisonment, he jokes, saying: “I’m lying like a dog in a straw,” etc. The life is also full of satirical portraits of Avvakum’s enemies. For example, in a letter to Alexei Mikhailovich he writes: “Poor, poor, crazy king!” Also, Avvakum’s innovation was manifested in writing not a journalistic work with elements of autobiography, but an integral biography. The work turns into the history of the first years of the Old Believer movement, the history of Russia in the second half of the 17th century. In addition to Avvakum, his life contains his companions and enemies, and the spatio-temporal boundaries of the narrative are widely represented. All these innovative features make the life an outstanding work of its kind.
42.Historical basis, originality of style of “The Tale of the Azov Siege of the Don Cossacks.”
In the 17th century A series of stories about Azov appears, where the patriotic feat of the Cossacks is glorified. Military stories written at this time reflected examples of the mass heroism of the Cossacks during the capture of the fortress. “The Tale of the Azov Seat” was written in the 40s. 17th century based on actual historical events, when in the spring of 1637 the Don Cossacks, taking advantage of the Turkish Sultan’s employment in the war with Persia, captured the Azov fortress without the knowledge of the Moscow government. This opened the way for the Russians to the Azov and Black Seas and protected them from constant attacks by the Turks and Tatars in the south of the Moscow state. But, fearing complications in relations with Turkey, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich did not accept Azov, ordering the Cossacks to leave it. The genre is a historical story. The first part of the story resembles in style business document, here it is said in detail about the number of the Turks’ army, the dates are indicated: “insch on the 24th day at the first hour of the day they came to us to plow it near the city)), “every head in the regiment of Janychens had 12,000)). The entire work, in fact, is an official report on the events of the Azov sitting, because at the beginning it says that “the Don Cossacks came... to Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich... and brought a painting to their seat of siege)). The following narrative introduces this painting. Different styles are intertwined in the story, for example, before the start of hostilities, an ambassador comes from the Turks with a speech in which he tries to call for repentance and pity: “you attacked him like hungry wolves, and you did not spare him any male age... and you put therefore take upon yourself the cruel name of beast.” Next, service to the Turkish king is offered for a reward. After which a response message from the Cossacks is given, in which they talk about their distrust of the Turks and the tsar’s insidious plans. These messages give the story a rhetorical, oratorical style. The work is also distinguished by its lyrical style: for example, the prayer of the Cossacks before the battle, the repentance of the Cossacks before the king: “Forgive us, servant of your sinners, sovereign king and Grand Duke Mikhailo Fedorovich)). This poetic place is based on a Cossack folk song, which indicates the influence of folklore on the story. The influence of military stories is also noticeable here (in the descriptions of battles). In the last part, a rhetorical style arises again - an exchange of messages between the Cossacks and the Turks. Then a vision is given: the Mother of God appears to the Cossacks and blesses them for battle. Then again the story takes on a documentary style - it tells about the number of living and wounded Cossacks after the battle, the exact dates are given (the capture of Azov - September 26, when “the Turk Pashas and the Turks and the Crimean Tsar ... ran away to persecute us with eternal shame))). ,
The story is distinguished by patriotic pathos, accuracy of descriptions, vernacular language and poetic style, in which traditional techniques of military stories and Don folklore are noticeable. This is an original, innovative work in both content and style.
43. General characteristics of satirical stories of the 17th century. Analysis of one of the stories. Work by V.P. Adrianova-Peretz "At the origins of Russian satire."
In the 17th century Satire is developing very well. Satirical stories can be divided into 3 groups: anti-feudal, anti-clerical and everyday. Anti-feudal ones include “The Tale of Ersha Ershovich”, “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court”. To the anti-clerical ones - “The Kolyazin Petition”, “The Tale of Hawk Moth”. Everyday stories are fictional. The characters and events in the works are fictitious. “The Tale of Misfortune” belongs to this type. They reflected the dramatic clash of “oldness” and “newness” in the sphere of personal and public life. “The Tale of Hawkmoth” has 3 parts: 1-introduction, 2-conversation between Hawkmoth and the inhabitants of paradise, 3-exit of John the Evangelist. This construction speaks of the novelistic nature of the work. This story is an anti-clerical satire. The first part talks about who the hawk moth is: “one who drinks early on the feasts of God.” He dies and an angel comes for him, after which the second part begins - the communication of the hawk moth with those who approach the gates of heaven - the Apostle Peter, the Apostle Paul, King David, King Solomon. Hawkmoth asks them to let him in, but they answer him that sinners cannot go to heaven. To which the hawk moth remembers something from their life about each one, from which each one “got away and was quickly put to shame.” In the third part, John the Theologian approaches the gates, who also says: “You cannot enter heaven as a hawkmoth.” To which Hawkmoth replies that in his Gospel it is written: “if we love each other, God will protect us both.” And he says that then John must either let him in or renounce writing the Gospel. This is how the hawk moth goes to heaven. In this work, the Supreme dogma is violated, the Divine court turns out to be unfair. The sinner goes to heaven. This story, a parody of medieval tales about the afterlife, angrily denounces church piety and church veneration of famous saints. All the saints mentioned here turn out to be unworthy of heaven. And the hawk moth acts as an angry accuser and at the same time a cunning speaker. Therefore, this story was included in the index of banned books.
44. Problematics and genre ambiguity of “everyday” stories of the 17th century. Analysis of one of the stories.
By the 2nd half of the 17th century. In Russian literature, a special genre variety of the everyday story is emerging, which reflects the drama of the collision of “oldness” and “newness” in the sphere of personal and public life. If real heroes historical stories became participants in unreal events, then the adventures of fictional characters in everyday stories were firmly inscribed in the surrounding Russian reality. All events and characters in these works are fictitious. These works were distinguished by journalisticism and authorial freedom. The author himself could resolve the dispute in favor of one or another hero, depending on his moral positions. The everyday story of the late Middle Ages acquires the features of philosophical prose. The everyday story reflected the democratization of the hero, the emerging interest in “ little man" “The Tale of Misfortune” was created among merchants in the 2nd half of the 17th century. The story is written in folk verse, based on an everyday story, accompanied by lyrical moral teachings. The hero of the story, Well done, he has no name, did not listen to his parents, who said: “Don’t go, child, to feasts and brother’s parties, don’t sit on the seat, don’t drink, child, two spells for one!” so as not to be a beggar. . He “wanted to live as he pleased” and did the opposite, so he fell “into immeasurable nakedness and barefootedness.” And the story draws a parallel between Adam and Eve, who succumbed to temptation, and Well done. An image appears of a tempting serpent, a “called brother,” who gets him drunk and then robs him. Further, the parallel runs through the motive of exile - Well done “it’s shameful ... to appear to his father and mother” and he decides to leave “to a foreign country.” There he goes to a feast, where he tells people about everything and asks for help. They help him and give him advice based on Domostroevsky morality. Thanks to them, Well done “from his great intelligence he gained more belly than Starov; I looked for a bride for myself according to custom.” Misfortune-Grief learned about this and appeared to the Well-Behaved in a dream, foreshadowing: “you will be taken away from your bride... of gold and silver, you will be killed.” But the Good Man didn’t believe the dream, then Grief appeared to him in a dream in the form of the Archangel Gabriel, saying that bliss is to be poor and drunk. After this, the Good Man follows the instructions of Grief, but then he realizes his mistake: “I, the good fellow, have been pushed into trouble.” But Grief does not let him go, saying that the Good Man will not go anywhere from him. Having struggled in vain with Grief, “the fine fellow went to the monastery to take monastic vows,” which is how he was saved. The hero of the story is a degraded person, but he worries about it. This is the first image of a tramp in Russian literature, with whom the author sympathizes, but at the same time condemns. The image of Grief is built on folklore principles. Grief forces a person to choose the wrong path, but it is also retribution for his mistakes when it says: “And whoever does not listen to his parents’ teachings is good, I will teach him, O unfortunate grief.” This work is similar in genre to a parable or a lesson, because... full of morality given by concrete example. Also the story is very close to folk songs about the Mountain, certain places have an epic character (for example, the arrival of the Well done to the feast and his boast). The work is close to folklore, as can be seen in the comparisons: Well done - “rock dove”, Woe - “Gray hawk”, etc. Based on this, we can say that the story is a fusion of folklore and literature; it goes beyond genre systems, combining many genres and traditions.
45. History of the emergence and repertoire of the court theater. The play "Judith".
The court theater of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich arose in October 1672 and became a new state “fun”. The Tsar hired foreign actors for his theater. Researchers believe that the initiator of the creation of this theater was the boyar Artamon Matveev. He had his own home theater with musicians, and he himself repeatedly acted as an actor. Until 1672, performances were staged in the Izmailovsky Palace, in the Kremlin, in the house of the Tsar’s father-in-law, Boyar Miloslavsky, and in the “comedy choir” at the Aptekarsky Courtyard. Writing the first play based on the biblical story of Esther and her marriage to Persian king, after which she uncovered the conspiracy, and she saved her people from extermination, the tsar entrusted Gregory to the pastor of the Moscow German Settlement. The main problems of the play: true royal power and mercy, pride and humility, were very popular at that time. On October 17, 1672, its premiere took place. The play consisted of a prologue and 7 acts, divided into phenomena. The performance ran for 10 hours without a break. The performance delighted the king. Thus, the history of the Russian theater began with the court theater, and the history of Russian drama began with the “Artaxerxes Action.” The first plays on the Russian stage were written on subjects from the Bible, the lives of saints, history and ancient mythology. The connection of the plays with modernity was emphasized by poetic prefaces. Such plays include the play “Judith”. It tells about the siege of the Judean city of Bethulia by Assyrian troops under the leadership of the general Holofernes and his murder by the Bethulian Judith. The play has 7 acts, divided into “entry”; pathetic scenes sometimes give way to comic ones; in addition to heroic characters, the play features buffoonish characters. For example, when Judith announces her intention to kill Holofernes, and the situation becomes tense because... everyone is worried, Abra, the servant of Judith, asks: “What are the Asirians like: are they like this, or what people?” The connection of the play with modernity is evidenced by the appeal to Alexei Mikhailovich, which precedes the text of the play. The first plays of the Russian theater were close in genre to “English” comedies; their artistic specificity was the abundance of bloody, crudely naturalistic scenes and dramatic collisions. For example, Judith showed everyone the bloody head of Holofernes. After this, Judith says to the maid Abra: “Quietly put me into your feast,” and she praises Judith’s courage and utters a comic phrase: “What will that wretched man say when he wakes up, and Judith is gone with his head?” The captured soldier Susakim, a comic character, is subjected to a “mock execution.” Having risen, the hero cannot understand for a long time whether he is alive, and having found clothes and shoes, he pretends to be looking for his head, asking: “Ow, gentlemen! If any of you...hid my head, I humbly ask him...to return it to me.” The “changeability” of life is emphasized by the movement of action in the play. In the play it is transferred from the palace to the military camp of Holofernes, and from there to the besieged city and the house of Judith. The official speech of the courtiers is replaced by the riotous song of drunken soldiers, and the lyrical speeches of the heroine are replaced by choirs. Thus, this play was typical of that time and was a striking example of 17th century drama.
46. School theater. "The Comedy of the Parable of the Prodigal Son."
At the end of the 17th century. originates in Rus' school theater. Created based on the plots of the books of the Holy Scriptures, works of school drama consisted of long monologues written in syllabics; they were spoken not only by biblical characters, but also by allegorical images (Mercy, Envy). These plays were staged at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, at the Zaikonospassky school of Simeon of Polotsk, at the Moscow Slavonic-Greco-Roman Academy, and the school of Dmitry Rostov. One of the first Russian educators and baroque poets was Simeon of Polotsk. His plays “The Comedy of the Parable of the Prodigal Son” and “The Tragedy of King Nebuchadnezzar” brought him fame. The “Comedy” was written on a gospel plot; it contained a conflict typical of that era when “children” did not listen to their parents, were burdened by their care, and left home in dreams of seeing the world. Behavior problem young man was also reflected in stories of the second half of the 17th century, such as “The Tale of Misfortune,” “The Tale of Savva Gruditsin,” and “The Tale of Frol Skobeev.” The play is small in size, its composition is very simple, the setting is conventional, the number of characters is small, and the characters are nameless (for example, Father, Sue the youngest, Son the eldest, Servant of the Prodigal, etc.). There are no allegories in the play, and all this brings the “Comedy” closer to school dramas and ensured its success. The comedy begins with a prologue, which calls for attention to watch this play. Then the first part begins, where the father distributes the inheritance to his sons, for which they thank the father, but the younger one asks for blessings and says: “I want to begin my path. What am I getting in the house? What will I study? I’d rather get richer in my mind while traveling.” In the second part, the youngest son leaves home and talks about his drinking and revelry. The third part consists of only one sentence: “It will come Prodigal son hungover, the servants console him in various ways; it's depressing." V~4-<ш_частиговорвтсал его нищете и голоде. В 5-ой части сын возвращается к отцу, а в 6-ой он показан уже одетым и накормленным, восхваляющим Бога. Далее следует эпилог, в котором говорится о назначении пьесы и наставляет^ запомнить её. Из всего этого следует, что стиль пьесы-поучительный. И несмотря на то, что она названа комедией, по сути своей это притча.
47. Poetic originality of the poetry collections of Simeon of Polotsk.
One of the first Russian educators and baroque poets was Simeon of Polotsk. Shortly before his death, he collected his writings and poems into huge collections - “Rhythmologion” and “Multicolored Vertograd”. His intense work was associated with the task of rooting a new verbal culture, baroque in nature, on Russian soil. The “helicopter city” he created amazed the reader with its “multicolors)). The poems were devoted to a variety of topics and were arranged in the collection according to thematic headings, where they were arranged alphabetically by title. In these collections, he denounced what was at odds with his idea of the ideal, and tirelessly praised the king, because. believed that this was his “service” to Russia. Simeon of Polotsk was an experimental poet who turned to the means of painting and architecture to give his poems clarity and to capture the reader’s imagination. In “The Russian Eagle” there is a form of “acrostic poem”, the initial letters of which form the sentence: “Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Lord, grant him many summers,” as well as rebus poems, “echoes” with rhyming questions and answers, and figured poems. This required skill and sharpness of mind from the poet. Baroque poetry also cultivated “multilingual” poems, which was reflected in Polotsky’s poem dedicated to Christmas, which he wrote in Slavic, Polish, and Latin. The Baroque traditions also manifested themselves through the high style, oriented towards the Church Slavonic language with a predilection for complex words. Simeon, for example, used complex adjectives, often invented by himself: “good-made”, “divinely-inspired”, etc. The things and phenomena he depicted often had an allegorical meaning; they “spoke”, teaching. Sometimes the teaching took the form of an entertaining, satirical story. For example, the poem “Drunkenness” (a drunkard, having come home, saw 4 sons instead of 2, because he saw double; he began accusing his wife of debauchery and orders him to pick up a red-hot piece of iron to prove his innocence. But the wife asks her husband to give her a piece from the oven, after which, having burned himself, he sobers up and understands everything. Everything ends with a moral), “Toads of the obedient” (the toads in the swamp screamed and disturbed the “praying monk.” One of them goes to swamp and says to the toads: “In the name of Christ I command you... not to be such,” after which the toads were no longer heard. At the end, a moral is given where the cry of the toads is compared to the “hugging” of women and it is said that they can be silenced in the same way. ). Scientists identify 3 main trends in Simeon’s work: didactic-educational (“Multicolored Vertograd”), panegric (“Rhythmologion”) and polemical (treatise “The Rod of Government,” directed against schismatics).
Origins and poetic originality of the Baroque style in Russian literature.
Baroque is one of the first European styles presented in Russian culture. Italy is considered the birthplace of Baroque, the country where it reached its apogee is Spain. Baroque came to Rus' from Poland through Ukraine and Belarus. In Russia, it replaced the Middle Ages and became a kind of Renaissance of Russian culture. This led to the loss of the religious and philosophical self-absorption of the Baroque and its promotion of the secularization of culture. Therefore, the Baroque in Russian culture acquired an optimistic pathos, without developing the philosophical motives of the “frailty of life,” and proclaimed human life as continuous pleasures and exciting journeys. This idea of the “variegation” of the world formed in literature a new type of hero - the hunter of Fortune, an inquisitive and enterprising person who enjoys life. Baroque in its Russian version affected mainly the culture of the upper classes; it was not large-scale, because was limited in time. It glorified science, education and reason. In Baroque poetry, sophistication and learning were valued, “multilingual” poems were welcomed, which was reflected in Polotsky’s poem dedicated to Christmas, which he wrote in Slavic, Polish, and Latin. The Baroque traditions also manifested themselves through the high style, oriented towards the Church Slavonic language with a predilection for complex words. Simeon, for example, used complex adjectives, often invented by himself: “good-working,” “God-inspired, flower-bearing,” etc. Despite all its elitism, the Baroque was addressed to the people and served the purposes of their education and upbringing. Filled with scientific and journalistic material, historical and geographical information, Baroque poetry sought to go beyond the boundaries of literature. The discoveries of the Baroque include a new look at a person, whose image is devoid of Renaissance harmony. The intricate plot forced the characters to actively move in space, and an abundance of landscapes and portraits appeared in the work. The world of Baroque amazed with its whimsical forms, diversity and polyphony. And the Russian version of Baroque, unlike the European one, was distinguished by moderation. In the Russian tradition, interest in naturalistic scenes of love and death and descriptions of the afterlife was also weakened. Baroque rooted poetry in Russian literature, enriching it with new poetic forms. Their range is very wide: from poetic transcriptions of liturgical texts to epigrams, from panegric greetings addressed to the king to inscriptions for images of alphabet books. Baroque liberated the poet, giving him freedom to choose the form of his work, and this search often led to the destruction of boundaries between genres, different types of art, and art and science. Poems could take the form of a dialogue, become part of a pictorial composition, etc. form began to prevail over content: poets composed acrostics, figure verses, created labyrinths with a repeatedly read phrase, “echo.” “Leonine” poems with rhyming hemistiches are coming into fashion. Although the literature of Russian Baroque seems far from strict norms and canons, it had its own pattern, which led to the emergence of stable images and phraseological units: Tsar - “eagle”, “sun”, Russia - “sky”. Later, these formulas, ideas and techniques were adopted and modified in the literature of Russian classicism.
Old Russian literature is the solid foundation on which the majestic edifice of national Russian artistic culture of the 18th–20th centuries is erected.
It is based on high moral ideals, faith in man, in his possibilities for limitless moral improvement, faith in the power of the word, its ability to transform the inner world of man, the patriotic pathos of serving the Russian land - the state - the Motherland, faith in the ultimate triumph of good over the forces of evil, universal unity of people and its victory over hateful discord.
Without knowing the history of ancient Russian literature, we will not understand the full depth of A. S. Pushkin’s work, the spiritual essence of creativity
N.V. Gogol, the moral quest of L.N. Tolstoy, the philosophical depth of F.M. Dostoevsky, the originality of Russian symbolism, the verbal quest of the futurists.
Chronological boundaries of Old Russian literature and its specific features.
Russian medieval literature is the initial stage in the development of Russian literature. Its emergence is closely connected with the process of formation of the early feudal state.
Subordinated to the political tasks of strengthening the foundations of the feudal system, it in its own way reflected various periods of the development of public and social relations in Rus' in the 11th-17th centuries. Old Russian literature is the literature of the emerging Great Russian nationality, which is gradually developing into a nation.
The question of the chronological boundaries of ancient Russian literature has not been finally resolved by our science. Ideas about the volume of ancient Russian literature still remain incomplete.
Many works were lost in the fire of countless fires, during the devastating raids of steppe nomads, the invasion of Mongol-Tatar invaders, and Polish-Swedish invaders! And at a later time, in 1737, the remains of the library of the Moscow tsars were destroyed by a fire that broke out in the Grand Kremlin Palace.
In 1777, the Kyiv Library was destroyed by fire. During the Patriotic War of 1812, the handwritten collections of Musin-Pushkin, Buturlin, Bauze, Demidov, and the Moscow Society of Lovers of Russian Literature were burned in Moscow.
The main keepers and copyists of books in Ancient Rus', as a rule, were monks, who were least interested in storing and copying books of secular (secular) content. And this largely explains why the overwhelming majority of works of ancient Russian writing that have reached us are of an ecclesiastical nature.
Works of ancient Russian literature were divided into “secular” and “spiritual”. The latter were supported and disseminated in every possible way, since they contained the enduring values of religious dogma, philosophy and ethics, and the former, with the exception of official legal and historical documents, were declared “vain.” Thanks to this, we present our ancient literature as more ecclesiastical than it actually was.
When starting to study ancient Russian literature, it is necessary to take into account its specific features, which are different from the literature of modern times.
A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of its existence and distribution. Moreover, this or that work did not exist in the form of a separate, independent manuscript, but was part of various collections that pursued certain practical goals.
“Everything that serves not for the sake of benefit, but for the sake of embellishment, is subject to the accusation of vanity.” These words of Basil the Great largely determined the attitude of ancient Russian society towards written works. The value of a particular handwritten book was assessed from the point of view of its practical purpose and usefulness.
“Great comes the benefit of bookish teaching, for we teach through books and teach us the ways of repentance, and we gain wisdom and abstinence from the words of books; for these are the rivers that feed the universe, these are the sources of wisdom, these are the sources of wisdom, these are the unsought depths, these are the comforts of us in sorrow, these are the bridles of self-control... If you diligently search for wisdom in the books, you will find great progress in your soul... "- the chronicler teaches in 1037.
Another feature of our ancient literature is the anonymity and impersonality of its works. This was a consequence of the religious-Christian attitude of feudal society towards man, and in particular towards the work of a writer, artist, and architect.
At best, we know the names of individual authors, “copywriters” of books, who modestly put their name either at the end of the manuscript, or in its margins, or (which is much less common) in the title of the work. At the same time, the writer will not accept to provide his name with such evaluative epithets as “thin”, “unworthy”, “many sinners”.
Biographical information about the ancient Russian writers known to us, the volume of their creativity, and the nature of their social activities is very, very scarce. Therefore, if when studying literature of the 18th-20th centuries. Literary scholars widely use biographical material, reveal the nature of the political, philosophical, aesthetic views of this or that writer, using the author's manuscripts, trace the history of the creation of works, reveal the creative individuality of the writer, then they have to approach the monuments of ancient Russian writing in a different way.
In medieval society there was no concept of copyright; the individual characteristics of the writer’s personality did not receive such a vivid manifestation as in the literature of modern times. Copyists often acted as editors and co-authors rather than simple copyists of the text. They changed the ideological orientation of the work being copied, the nature of its style, shortened or distributed the text in accordance with the tastes and demands of their time.
As a result, new editions of monuments were created. And even when the copyist simply copied the text, his list was always somehow different from the original: he made typos, omitted words and letters, and involuntarily reflected in the language the features of his native dialect. In this regard, in science there is a special term - “izvod” (manuscript of the Pskov-Novgorod edition, Moscow, or, more broadly, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc.).
As a rule, the author's texts of works have not reached us, but their later lists have been preserved, sometimes distant from the time the original was written by a hundred, two hundred or more years. For example, “The Tale of Bygone Years,” created by Nestor in 1111–1113, has not survived at all, and the edition of Sylvester’s “story” (1116) is known only as part of the Laurentian Chronicle of 1377. “The Tale of Igor’s Host,” written at the end of 80 s of the 12th century, was found in a list of the 16th century.
All this requires from the researcher of ancient Russian literature unusually thorough and painstaking textual work: studying all available lists of a particular monument, establishing the time and place of their writing by comparing various editions, variants of lists, as well as determining which edition the list most matches original author's text. These issues are dealt with by a special branch of philological science - textual criticism.
When solving complex questions about the time of writing of a particular monument and its lists, the researcher turns to such an auxiliary historical and philological science as paleography.
Based on the characteristics of letters, handwriting, the nature of writing material, paper watermarks, the nature of headpieces, ornaments, miniatures illustrating the text of a manuscript, paleography makes it possible to relatively accurately determine the time of creation of a particular manuscript and the number of scribes who wrote it.
In the XI - first half of the XIV century. The main writing material was parchment, made from calf skin. In Rus', parchment was often called “veal” or “haratya”. This expensive material was, naturally, available only to the propertied classes, and artisans and traders used birch bark for their ice correspondence. Birch bark also served as student notebooks. This is evidenced by the remarkable archaeological discoveries of Novgorod birch bark documents.
To save writing material, the words in the line were not separated, and only paragraphs of the manuscript were highlighted with a red cinnabar letter - the initial, the title - a “red line” in the literal sense of the word. Frequently used, widely known words were written abbreviated under a special superscript - title. For example, glet (verb - says), bg (god), btsa (Mother of God).
The parchment was pre-lined by a scribe using a ruler with a chain. Then the scribe placed it on his lap and carefully wrote out each letter. Handwriting with regular, almost square letters was called charter.
Working on the manuscript required painstaking work and great skill, so when the scribe completed his hard work, he celebrated it with joy. “The merchant rejoices when he has made the purchase and the helmsman in the calm of the bailiff and the wanderer who has come to his fatherland, and the book writer rejoices in the same way, having reached the end of the books...” - we read at the end of the Laurentian Chronicle.
The written sheets were sewn into notebooks, which were intertwined into wooden boards. Hence the phraseological turn - “read a book from blackboard to blackboard.” The binding boards were covered with leather, and sometimes covered with special frames made of silver and gold. A remarkable example of jewelry art is, for example, the setting of the Mstislav Gospel (early 12th century).
In the XIV century. paper replaced parchment. This cheaper writing material adhered to and speeded up the writing process. The statutory letter is replaced by slanted, rounded handwriting with a large number of ascenders - semi-character. In the monuments of business writing, cursive writing appears, which gradually replaces semi-character and occupies a dominant position in manuscripts of the 17th century.
The emergence of printing in the mid-16th century played a huge role in the development of Russian culture. However, until the beginning of the 18th century. Mostly church books were printed, but secular and artistic works continued to exist and were distributed in manuscripts.
When studying ancient Russian literature, one very important circumstance should be taken into account: in the medieval period, fiction had not yet emerged as an independent area of public consciousness; it was inextricably linked with philosophy, science, and religion.
In this regard, it is impossible to mechanically apply to ancient Russian literature the criteria of artistry with which we approach when assessing the phenomena of literary development of modern times.
The process of historical development of ancient Russian literature is a process of gradual crystallization of fiction, its isolation from the general flow of writing, its democratization and “secularization,” i.e., liberation from the tutelage of the church.
One of the characteristic features of Old Russian literature is its connection with church and business writing, on the one hand, and oral poetic folk art, on the other. The nature of these connections at each historical stage of the development of literature and in its individual monuments was different.
However, the wider and deeper literature used the artistic experience of folklore, the more clearly it reflected the phenomena of reality, the wider was the sphere of its ideological and artistic influence.
A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is historicism. Its heroes are predominantly historical figures; it allows almost no fiction and strictly follows the fact. Even numerous stories about “miracles” - phenomena that seemed supernatural to a medieval person, are not so much the invention of an ancient Russian writer, but rather accurate records of the stories of either eyewitnesses or the people themselves with whom the “miracle” happened.
The historicism of ancient Russian literature has a specifically medieval character. The course and development of historical events is explained by God's will, the will of providence.
The heroes of the works are princes, rulers of the state, standing at the top of the hierarchical ladder of feudal society. However, having discarded the religious shell, the modern reader easily discovers that living historical reality, the true creator of which was the Russian people.
Kuskov V.V. History of Old Russian Literature. - M., 1998
Description of the work: “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”, “Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh”, etc. These works belong to Old Russian literature. The literature of antiquity is based on real events and reflects Rus', its position at one time or another. Old Russian literature reflects the character of Rus' and its inhabitants. It, like the history of Rus', contains information about its relationships with other countries and within the country. This literature is rich in discussions about kings, princes and the common people. We simply must protect and study its riches.
Russian literature is a thousand years old. We know our great classical writers well, but we know little about our literature of the first seven centuries. Every Russian person knows only “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” well. Meanwhile, our ancient literature is rich in works of various genres. The chronicles told about the history of our country, starting from ancient, pre-literate times and ending with the events of the turbulent 17th century. Biographies (“lives”) told about the lives of individual people. In ancient Russian literature there are works of oratory, descriptions of travel (“walkings”) to the East or Western Europe, journalistic works aimed at eradicating social evil and injustice, calling for truth and goodness. There are a number of so-called “military stories” dedicated to the struggle of the Russian people against foreign enemies: the Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Mongol-Tatars, German knights. Stories telling about princely civil strife and crimes have been preserved. These stories are full of pain for the untruth, for the suffering brought to people and the entire country. In the 17th century, stories of a domestic nature appeared. At the end of the same century, dramatic and poetic works appeared.
Old Russian literature, as you see, is rich in written monuments. She was even richer. After all, of its entire treasury, only a small part has reached us; the rest was destroyed in fires, plundered by enemies, perished from storage in damp rooms, due to the negligence and indifference of people.
We consider ancient Russian literature to be especially significant because it contains features that are consonant with our era. The works of our antiquity are marked by high citizenship and sincere love for the motherland. Writers, separated from us by many centuries, were proud of the greatness of Rus', its vastness, beauty, the “bright lightness and red decoration” of its fields and forests, the “audacity” of the Russian people, and high moral qualities. The true patriotism of ancient Russian authors was also manifested in the fact that they boldly wrote about the shortcomings and crimes of the princes.
The works of Ancient Rus' captivate with their chastity and purity. Old Russian literature does not dwell on descriptions of atrocities and does not cherish the dream of retribution against enemies. She calls for the sublime, the good. In it we find noble ideals. Almost every writer of Ancient Rus' could, like A. S. Pushkin, say about himself that he aroused “good feelings” with his work. He could declare, together with N.A. Nekrasov, that he “sowed the reasonable, the good, the eternal.” Therefore, the works of ancient Russian authors so vividly respond to our time and the growing need for goodness and kindness in our country.
Ancient Russian literature, as well as Russian literature in general, is characterized by life-affirmation, lightness and clarity. Let's take for example. The most tragic “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu.” What could be more terrible! The army was defeated, all the princes were killed on the battlefield, the city was taken, plundered, burned, almost all the inhabitants were killed. All that was left was “smoke, earth and ashes.” But there is no despair, no despondency in the story. Crying for the Russian princes, glorifying their valor, pride in the fact that there were such princes. And the story ends with a major chord: one of the Ryazan princes, who accidentally survived, arrives, pays tribute to the murdered, buries them with honor, gathers the surviving residents, restores the city, and everything ends with general pacification. This fortitude is amazing.
Another property of ancient Russian literature is especially attractive in our time: ancient Russian writers treated other peoples, their customs, and their beliefs with deep respect. Tolerance is manifested in the relationship between the Russian governor Pritech and the Pecheneg prince in the Tale of Bygone Years, in the Tale of the Emshan Grass, which conveys the Polovtsian tradition, in the sermons of the Bishop of Vladimir Serapion, who wrote about the torment of the Russian people under Tatar oppression, lamented the loss of the former glory of Rus' and at the same time spoke about the moral virtues of the Tatars. Respect for other peoples, sympathy for their troubles sounds with particular force in “Walking across Three Seas” by Afanasy Nikitin.
Even in stories describing the fight against enemies, for example in “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev,” the author notes the combat prowess of the enemies and considers both Russians and Tatars to be children of the same mother Earth. The admiration for the courage of enemies in “Kazan History”, a work dedicated to the centuries-old struggle of Russians with the people of Kazan, sounds absolutely amazing.
In the new Russian literature of the 18th-20th centuries, the best traditions of ancient literature continue. However, ancient literature has its own characteristics that distinguish it from the literature of modern times.
In the art of the word of modern times, we are dealing with individual authors, and ancient literature, although it retained a number of names of writers - Hilarion, Nestor, Kirill of Turovsky and many others - was generally a collective work. If in modern times works of classical literature are published in the form in which the author wrote them, then the works of ancient writers have been changed over the centuries by different copyists. Each new copyist either shortened the text somewhat, or sought to “embellish” the presentation, or changed the overall focus of the work. He adapted the work of his predecessor to the literary taste and ideological requirements of his time. This is how new types arose, or, as they say, editions of the same monument. This situation is close to oral folk art: each narrator sang the same epic in a different way, adding or omitting something.
In all new editions, the monuments of ancient Russian literature lived on, retaining the main original features and acquiring new ones. Rare monuments have survived to us in the form in which they were first written, most of them came down to us in later correspondence, “lists”.
Old Russian literature, unlike modern literature, did not have fictional characters or plots. Ancient stories always featured historical figures and described historical events. Even if the author introduced the miraculous and fantastic into his narrative, it was not a conscious fiction, because the writer himself and his readers believed in the veracity of what was being described. Conscious fiction appeared only in the literature of the 17th century. And even then, as a rule, he hid behind references to historical events. Thus, the fictional hero of one of the stories of the 17th century, Savva Grudtsyn, appears in the Russian army of the boyar Shein, who besieged Smolensk.
We are used to the works we read being entertaining. Entertaining for us is mainly associated only with the rapid development of a complex plot. The writers of Ancient Rus', of course, also sought to interest the reader. But their plot is simple, the story is told calmly, not hastily.
The people of Ancient Rus' read books earnestly, slowly, rereading the same work several times, reverently seeking in it instructions, advice, or images of significant events from the history of their country or other countries. It is not for nothing that books have been figuratively compared to the depths of the sea, and the reader to a pearl diver.
One of the achievements of modern literature was that it began to depict the everyday, that its characters were the same people as each of us. In ancient Russian literature there are no simple characters, there are heroes who perform great feats on the battlefield and moral improvement.
Like folklore, literature dwelled only on exceptional events; it did not condescend to the reader, but sought to raise him to its heights.
In ancient literature there were no poems, but there was poetry. Only the imagery of this poetry is different than in modern times, we need to get used to it, understand it. The images appeared as if by themselves. We would say: “I’ll come in the spring,” and a man of the 11th-17th centuries wrote: “I’ll arrive as soon as the leaves dawn on the trees.” Ancient authors did not write that someone did a lot for their homeland, they wrote: “He lost a lot of sweat for his homeland”; we would say: “The enemies fled,” and the ancient scribe wrote: “They showed their shoulders.” They loved hyperbole: the name of Alexander Nevsky, according to his biographer, was glorified “throughout all countries to the Sea of Egypt and to the mountains of Ararat.” Old Russian authors often resorted to comparisons: warriors were compared to falcons, flying arrows to rain, enemies to ferocious beasts.
In ancient Russian works you will find many examples of rhythmic speech.
The poetry of ancient Russian literature is largely due to its closeness to oral folk art. In our time, literature and folklore are strictly separated. Writers of the 18th-20th centuries turn to folklore, but never become storytellers. In ancient Russian literature it was different. Writers, like storytellers, created epic works. Not only the initial tales of the “Tale of Bygone Years” are epic, based on oral traditions - about Oleg, Igor, Olga, Vladimir, about the young Kozhemyak and Belgorod wells. Later works of the 15th, 16th, and even 17th centuries are also epic. Many narratives that are examples of high rhetoric organically include epic parts. This is the story about Evpatiy Kolovrat in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”, about six brave men in “The Life of Alexander Nevsky”. Folk songs are woven into the fabric of many works, for example, in “The Tale of Prince Skopin-Shuisky.” The “Tale of Woe-Misfortune” is based on the literary basis of a lyrical song. And what beautiful folk laments can be found in chronicles and stories! In addition to laments, glorifications—“glories”—are also heard in literature. Ritual in origin, pagan poetry was a living source to which writers turned all the time.
There is no need to exaggerate the importance of oral folk art in the literature of Ancient Rus'. Despite its closeness to folklore, it was written literature (the word “literature” comes from the Latin “litera” - letter), and the literature was very high, skillful, and artistic. It arose back in the 10th century along with the adoption of Christianity under the influence of the needs of the church and state.
With the adoption of Christianity (988) from Slavic Bulgaria, which was experiencing a cultural dawn at that time, books were brought to Rus'. Some books were copied into Bulgarian. The Old Bulgarian language, called Church Slavonic in Rus', because liturgical books were written in it, was close to Old Russian and was well understood by Russian readers of that time. The Church Slavonic language, flexible and subtle, capable of expressing the most complex abstract ideas, extremely enriched the ancient Russian language and made it more expressive. Synonyms still live in our language: Russian-eyes, Slavic-eyes, etc. Western Catholic countries were united by Latin, Slavic countries by Church Slavonic. From the end of the 10th to the beginning of the 11th century, translated books of a wide variety of genres, styles and purposes appeared in Rus'. There are biblical historical books, Byzantine chronicles, and lyrical chants, sometimes joyful, sometimes full of sorrow and sadness. Collections of oratory works that were part of the art of eloquence of antiquity, and collections of aphorisms appeared. Natural history and history books were brought to Rus'.
In the first half of the 11th century, “words” (speeches) appeared in Rus'. From the forties of the 11th century, the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, remarkable for its harmony and elaborate oratorical techniques, has been preserved. Hilarion was a “Rusin” (Russian) by birth, a priest of the country church of the Savior in the village of Berestovo near Kiev (this church has survived to this day). Yaroslav the Wise appointed him metropolitan, head of the entire Russian church. In “The Sermon on Law and Grace,” delivered in the presence of Yaroslav the Wise and his family, Hilarion gives a unique overview of world history and asserts the equality of “new people,” that is, Russians recently introduced to Christianity, with the rest of the peoples of the Christian world.
The pinnacle of literature of the 12th century is “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - a work typical of this century, when the art of speech reached a high development, and the consciousness of the need to preserve the unity of the Russian land was especially strong.
We do not know the names of the authors of the tales about Oleg’s campaigns, Olga’s baptism, or Svyatoslav’s wars. The first known author of a literary work in Rus' was the priest of the princely church in Berestov, later Metropolitan Hilarion. In the early 40s of the 11th century, he created his famous “Sermon on Law and Grace.” It talks about the Church of the Annunciation on the Golden Gate, built in 1037, and mentions Irina (Ingigerda), the wife of Yaroslav the Wise, who died in 1050. The word introduces us to the struggle of religious and political ideas of the 11th century. Hilarion speaks in it about the baptism of Rus' and praises Vladimir, who baptized the Russian land: “Let us praise our teacher and mentor, the great kagan of our land, Vladimir, the grandson of old Igor, the son of the glorious Svyatoslav, who in his years ruled, having listened with courage and bravery in in many countries they are now remembered for their victories and strength. It’s not in the worst of battles, it’s not in the unknown that the land has dominion, but in Russia, which is known and heard, there is the end of the land.” Hilarion appeals to Vladimir to look at the greatness of Kyiv under Yaroslav, who “covered the glorious city of Kyiv with majesty like a crown.” These words, apparently, should be understood as an indication of the newly built and majestic fortifications that surrounded the capital of the Kyiv princes. In the second half of the 11th century, other striking literary and journalistic works appeared: “Memory and Praise of Vladimir” by the monk Jacob, in which Hilarion’s ideas are further developed and applied to the historical figure of Vladimir I. At the same time, “The Legend of the Initial Spread of Christianity in Rus'”, “The Legend of Boris and Gleb”, patron saints and defenders of the Russian land.
In the last quarter of the 11th century, the monk Nestor began to work on his writings. The chronicle was his final fundamental work. Before that, he created the famous “Reading about the Life of Boris and Gleb.” In it, as in Hilarion’s “Word”, as later in the Tale of Bygone Years, the ideas of the unity of Rus' are heard, and tribute is paid to its defenders and guardians. Already at that time, Russian authors were worried about this growing political hostility in the Russian lands, in which they discerned a harbinger of a future political catastrophe.
The literature of the 12th century continues the traditions of Russian writings of the 11th century. New ecclesiastical and secular works are being created, marked by a vivid form, richness of thoughts, and broad generalizations; new genres of literature emerge.
In his declining years, Vladimir Monomakh wrote his famous “Instruction for Children,” which became one of the favorite readings of the Russian people of the early Middle Ages. The teaching clearly depicts for us the life of Russian princes at the end of the 11th – beginning of the 12th centuries. Vladimir Monomakh talks about his campaigns and travels. His whole life was spent in continuous wars, either with the Poles, or with the Polovtsians, or with hostile princes. He counts 83 large campaigns, not counting small ones, as well as 19 peace treaties with the Cumans. To characterize feudal ideology, the image of the ideal prince depicted by Monomakh is interesting. The prince must monitor everything in the house, and not rely on the tiun or the warrior (“youth”), so as not to laugh at the order in the house and at dinner. During military campaigns, one must avoid excess food and drink, as well as long periods of sleep. By nightfall, appoint guards yourself, Monomakh teaches, and, having arranged the army around you, go to bed and get up early; and do not quickly take off your weapons without looking, out of laziness, “suddenly a person dies.” The prince's life is filled with wars and hunting, death follows on the warrior's heels. And this knightly ideology is perfectly expressed by the words of Monomakh addressed to his second cousin Oleg Svyatoslavovich of Chernigov. Monomakh offers him peace and friendship and promises not to avenge the death of his son, killed in battle with Oleg: “Isn’t it amazing that my husband died in the regiment” (is it surprising that a warrior died during the battle). The teaching provides a lot of historical information that is missing in the chronicle; it is a valuable historical source.
At the beginning of the 12th century, one of Monomakh’s associates, Abbot Daniel, created his own, no less famous, “Hegumen Daniel’s Walk to Holy Places.”
The pious Russian man went to the Holy Sepulcher and made a long and difficult journey - to Constantinople, then through the islands of the Aegean Sea to the island of Crete, from there to Palestine and to Jerusalem, where at that time the first crusader state was founded, led by King Baldwin. Daniel described in detail his entire journey, spoke about his stay at the court of the King of Jerusalem, about the campaign with him against the Arabs. Daniel prayed at the Holy Sepulcher, placed there a lamp from the entire Russian land: near the tomb of Christ he sang fifty liturgies “for the Russian princes and for all Christians.”
Both “Teaching” and “Walking” were the first genres of their kind in Russian literature.
XII – early XIII century. They gave many other bright religious and secular works that added to the treasury of Russian culture. Among them are “The Word” and “Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik, who, having been in captivity and having experienced a number of other everyday dramas, reflects on the meaning of life, on a harmonious person, on an ideal ruler. In the “Word” the author himself calls himself Daniel the prisoner, that is, a prisoner, exiled. The word is addressed to Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich. The Message (Prayer) is addressed to Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich.
The word gives an interesting characterization of feudal relations in the 12th century. First of all, what is striking is the indication of the importance of the personality of the prince as a feudal sovereign, to whom, depending on his personal qualities, “servants” - vassals - gather: “The psaltery is formed by fingers, and the body is based on veins; oak is strong with many roots; so is our city your dominion. The prince is generous, the father has many servants: many people leave their father and mother and resort to him. By serving a good master, you will earn a settlement, and by serving an evil master, you will earn more work.” The prince is famous for those who surround him: “The pavoloka (expensive fabric) is speckled with many silks and reds, your face shows: so you, prince, are honest and glorious with many people in all countries.” The word of Daniil Zatochnik is a most valuable source for studying the class struggle in ancient Russian society. It repeatedly emphasizes the antagonism of rich and poor. The word clearly characterizes the order of the patrimony of the period of feudal fragmentation: do not have a courtyard near the king’s court, exclaims Daniel, and do not keep a village near the prince’s village; His thiun is like a covered fire, and his “rank and file” are like sparks. If you guard against fire, then you cannot “guard yourself” from sparks and from burning clothes. The word of Daniel the Sharper is woven from a number of aphorisms and teachings. It was this feature that made him very popular in medieval Rus'.
In the Word we also encounter a constant theme in many ancient Russian works - about evil wives. The ascetic nature of church writing contributed to the view of a woman as a “vessel of the devil.” Here are a few of the Sharpener’s attacks against malicious wives: if any husband looks at the beauty of his wife and her kind and flattering words, but does not check her deeds, then God forbid he had better have a fever. Or in another place: “What is the wife of evil - an irresistible inn, a demonic blasphemer. What is an evil wife? Worldly rebellion, blindness of the mind, the master of all malice,” etc.
No less interesting is the second work associated with Daniil Zatochnik, the so-called Epistle (Prayer). The message begins with an appeal to Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who researchers consider to be Pereyaslavl, and later Grand Duke Yaroslav, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest. The message is extremely interesting in its social orientation. The author paints for us the appearance of a prince from the era of feudal fragmentation, which harmonizes well with the biography of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, a warlike, intelligent and at the same time cruel prince: “The people are wise, strong and their cities are strong; The brave ones are strong and crazy: for them there is victory. Many people take up arms against large cities and attack their own, smaller cities.” In this description of the prince one can involuntarily feel historical features. Such was Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who chased the Novgorod table and often lost it. In the Epistle we read an unusually harsh review of monastic life: “Or you will say, prince: take monastic vows. So I didn’t see a dead man riding a pig, not a damn woman, I didn’t eat figs from oak trees. After all, many, having departed from this world into monasticism, return again to worldly life and to the worldly race, like dogs to their vomit: they go around the villages and houses of the glorious houses of this world, like caressing dogs. Where there are weddings and feasts, there are monks and monks and lawlessness. They wear an angelic image on themselves, but they wear a dissolute disposition, a saintly rank, and their custom is obscene.”
Addressing his prince in “Prayer,” Daniel says that a real man must combine the strength of Samson, the courage of Alexander the Great, the intelligence of Joseph, the wisdom of Solomon, and the cunning of David. Turning to biblical stories and ancient history helps him convey his ideas to the addressee. A person, according to the author, must strengthen his heart with beauty and wisdom, help his neighbor in sorrow, show mercy to those in need, and resist evil. The humanistic line of ancient Russian literature firmly asserts itself here too.
An interesting monument of the 12th century is the Epistle of Metropolitan Clement. Clement Smolyatich, originally from Smolensk, in 1147 was elected by a council of Russian bishops as metropolitan of All Rus' without the installation of a patriarch, while other metropolitans were appointed by the patriarch in Constantinople. “The message was written by Clement, Metropolitan of Russia, to Thomas the Presbyter, interpreted by Athanasius the Mnich” was preserved in a 15th-century manuscript. The authorship of Clement is attributed only to the first two parts, and the last to the monk Athanasius. The message provides interesting material for characterizing the education of Kievan Rus. The author turns to Thomas with a response to his message, which denounced Clement for being proud of his philosophical knowledge, since Clement made references to Homer, Aristotle and Plato in his writings. Averting reproaches of pride from himself, Clement at the same time attacks those bishops who add “house to house, village to village, expelling the siabrs, and the borti, and the reapers, and the lads and the ancients, from whom the accursed Klim greatly free.”
In his “Parable of the Human Soul” (late 12th century), Bishop Kirill of the city of Turov, relying on the Christian worldview, gives his interpretation of the meaning of human existence and discusses the need for a constant connection between soul and body. At the same time, in his “Parable” he raises questions that are quite topical for Russian reality, reflects on the relationship between church and secular authorities, defends the national-patriotic idea of the unity of the Russian land, which was especially important, while the Vladimir-Suzdal princes began to implement centralization policy on the eve of the Mongol-Tatar invasion.
Simultaneously with these works, where religious and secular motives were constantly intertwined, copyists in monasteries, churches, princely and boyar houses diligently copied church service books, prayers, collections of church traditions, biographies of saints, and ancient theological literature. All this wealth of religious and theological thought also formed an integral part of general Russian culture.
But, of course, the most vivid synthesis of Russian culture, the interweaving of pagan and Christian features, religious and secular, universal and national motives in it was heard in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The Word tells about the campaign of the Seversky princes in 1185, led by Prince Igor Svyatoslavovich, against the Polovtsians. Shortly before this, the Severn princes refused to participate in the campaign against the Polovtsians, which was undertaken by their relative, the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. From the very beginning, the participants in the campaign were confused by bad omens - an eclipse of the sun occurred. However, the princes decided to move on. The first battle was successful for the Russians. But soon things took a different turn. The Polovtsians defeated the Russian troops, and Igor Svyatoslavovich was captured, from which he escaped with the help of a certain Ovlur.
The story of Igor's regiment perfectly depicts princely relations at the end of the 12th century. What stands out in particular is the power of two princes, who in strength are on a par with Svyatoslav of Kyiv or even higher than him. This is the Galician prince Yaroslav Osmomysl and Vsevolod the Big Nest. Yaroslav sits high on his gold-plated table, he propped up the Carpathian (Hungarian) mountains with his iron regiments, closing the path for the Hungarian king and closing the Danube Gate for him, dominating all the way to the Danube. “Your thunderstorms flow across the lands, shooting a hundred gold from the Saltani table beyond the lands. Shoot, sir, Konchak, that filthy bastard, for the Russian land, for the wounds of Igor, my dear Svyatoslavovich.” This praise of Yaroslav Galitsky is confirmed in the chronicle. He was a wise, eloquent, God-fearing prince, revered in other lands, glorious in battles, we read in the chronicle about Yaroslav of Galicia.
The Vladimir-Suzdal prince Vsevolod the Big Nest seems no less powerful for the singer of the Word. He addresses him with the words: “You can sprinkle the Volga with oars, and pour out the Don with helmets.” If we remember that the Tale of Igor’s Campaign was compiled in southern Rus', then such princely characteristics acquire special meaning for us. They show the true balance of power between the princes of feudal Rus' at the end of the 12th century, when the Galicia-Volyn and Vladimir-Suzdal lands became especially strong.
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” has another remarkable feature. Created in an era of feudal fragmentation, it nevertheless testifies to the unity of the Russian people. The entire content of the Word about Igor's Campaign rests on the idea that the Russian land can fight against the Polovtsian raids only as a single whole. A constant refrain is patriotic words, full of ardent love for the homeland, about the Russian land hidden behind the hills (“Oh, Russian land, you are already behind the shelomyan”).
The word unusually vividly depicts feudal strife and discord among the princes, mourning the fact that they are weakening the Russian land.
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is of great interest for studying the beliefs of ancient Rus'. Nature is personified in Yaroslavna’s cry: “Oh the wind! – Yaroslavna turns to the wind. - “Why, sir, did you force yourself? Why do the Khinov arrows moo on their easy wings in my own way? You never know how grief blows under the clouds, cherishing ships on the blue sea.” The Dnieper River appears as the same living creature in Yaroslavna’s lament. She even calls him with his patronymic – Slovutich. The Word also mentions ancient Slavic deities. Bayan, named the grandson of Veles, god of cattle and abundance, patron of singers; Russians are the children of Dazhd-God, the great sun god.
Unlike other monuments of ancient Russian literature, The Tale of Igor's Campaign does not reflect church ideology. Only once is it mentioned the church of the Mother of God Pirogoshcha, to which Igor goes when returning to Kyiv.
The Word about Igor's Campaign included many legends unknown to us from other works. One of the sources for the author was Boyan’s songs, to which he refers. Boyan recalled “the first times of strife.” He sang songs about old Yaroslav, about the brave Mstislav, who stabbed Redea in front of the Kasozh regiments, about the beautiful Roman Svyatoslavovich.
We do not know the sources of the Word about Igor's Campaign. But its author undoubtedly used a large number of oral traditions. This is confirmed by many epithets that find analogies in monuments of oral literature: “golden table”, “golden stirrup”, “gray eagle”, “blue sea”, “green grass”, “sharp swords”, “open field”, “black crow".
A remarkable feature of the Tale of Igor's Campaign is its focus. While the chronicles preserved mainly the Kyiv tradition, the Tale of Igor's Campaign mainly reflects the Chernigov and Polotsk traditions. The singer's sympathies are with the Chernigov princes. He writes about the “resentment” of the Chernigov prince Oleg Svyatoslavovich, a young and brave prince expelled by Vladimir Monomakh from his principality. But Vladimir himself is depicted as a cowardly prince, covering his ears from the ringing of Oleg’s golden stirrups. The nickname “Gorislavich”, which the singer gives to Oleg, is an epithet denoting a person famous for his grief and misadventures.
The high artistic skill of “The Lay” is based not only on folk tradition, but also on Russian writing known to the author. It is impossible not to see what pearls the author selected in the chronicles and other works known to him! All this places “The Lay” next to the greatest monuments of Russian culture of the 12th century.
The development of literature in the 15th century was facilitated by the reduction in cost of writing material: at this time, instead of expensive parchment and specially treated calfskin, they began to use paper imported from the West.
Serious changes are taking place in the literary style of works. The upsurge that came after the Kulikovo victory led to the development of the so-called panegyric style: a lush and solemn style, ornate and complex; it was figuratively called “weaving words” (meaning that the authors weaved verbal wreaths to the glory of ascetics and warriors). The most sophisticated writer who worked in this direction was Epiphanius the Wise and Pachomius Logofet, a native of Serbia. Both were writers - professionals, connoisseurs of the art of words.
Such subtle and elegant works as “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” and “The Life of Sergei of Radonezh” date back to the 15th century.
For the history of literature, the “Degree Book” is of significant interest - a collection of biographies of the rulers of the Russian state. There are many legends in biographies, often of a romantic nature.
Interesting works of the mid-16th century include “Domostroy”; its creation is attributed to Sylvester, a priest of the Annunciation Church in the Kremlin.
Old Russian literature is valuable both for its own artistic achievements and for the fact that it prepared the emergence of great Russian literature of modern times. Knowledge of ancient Russian literature helps to more fully and deeply understand the literature of the 19th-20th centuries.
But the value of ancient Russian literature lies not only in this. For us, she is a pure and life-giving source to which we turn in times of troubles and trials, “in days of doubt, in days of painful thoughts,” as well as in times of recovery. We draw deep thoughts from it, find high ideals and beautiful images in it. Her faith in goodness and the victory of justice, her ardent patriotism strengthens and inspires us. M.V. Lomonosov called Russian chronicles “books of glorious deeds.” The same can be said about most of the ancient Russian stories.
The history of ancient Russian literature of the 11th-13th centuries is often considered as the first chapter in the history of modern Russian literature. And indeed, images from chronicles or “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” firmly take their place in the stock of Russian culture - just remember Pushkin’s “Song of the Prophetic Oleg” or Borodin’s opera “Prince Igor”. However, it is important to understand that these images come from a world that was significantly different from ours in its value systems. Awareness of this difference is the first step towards understanding all the cultural works of Ancient Rus'.
The main difference between ancient Russian literature and modern fiction is its purpose. The task of fiction is to lift the reader above the ordinary world. Books that are “intelligent” and “challenging” do this through unexpected form and multifaceted content; in those that are “simpler,” we are treated to a wildly twisted plot with an unobvious outcome, and some masterpieces manage to combine both. The assertions of 19th-century critics that art must necessarily be “useful” seem deeply outdated today. And even the obligatory “partisanship” of literature, which was until recently obligatory, seems to have finally been allowed to be forgotten.
The book culture of the Russian Middle Ages is a completely different matter. Books and writing in general appeared in Rus' after Epiphany, so their composition and content were determined primarily by the needs of the Church. And in the eyes of the Church, art for art’s sake was a dangerous matter, because such art is capable of attracting attention - and therefore helping the devil, who will certainly take the opportunity to distract people from prayer and in some cunning way plunge human souls into temptation. In order to prevent this, some popular forms of folk entertainment - for example, square comedies - were directly prohibited by church canons (at the same time, square comedy is one of those forms of art from which modern theater came out). Of course, it was not easy to implement such harsh prohibitions: “trumpets, buffoons, harps and mermaids” continued, as ancient Russian preachers admitted, to “lure” the people away from God. At the same time, mentions of buffoons in the sources of the pre-Mongol era are rare, and examples of their creativity dating back to such early times are completely unknown to us. The literature of Ancient Rus' with which the modern reader deals is a purely religious literature, and its main task is to bring spiritual benefit. It makes sense to take up a pen only insofar as the result of your creativity will contribute to the salvation of the soul.
This goal setting did not at all exclude the grace of style. On the contrary, divine truths are so complex and brilliant that it is impossible to express them in “simple” language, and even a skilled writer can be baffled by this task. The author of “The Tale of [the Holy Princes] Boris and Gleb,” addressing the heroes of his work, admits:
“I don’t know how to praise you, and what to say, I don’t understand and can’t come up with. I would call you angels who quickly come to the mourning, but you lived in the flesh on earth among people. I would call you people, but you surpass human reason with your miracles and help to the weak. I would have proclaimed you tsars or princes, but you have shown more humility than the simplest and most humble of people, and it is for this that you have been admitted to heaven into the heavenly dwellings ... " Here and below, quotes are translated by Dmitry Dobrovolsky.
In other words, not a single definition by itself is capable of conveying the greatness of the sacrifice that the martyred princes made, which means that we need to find as many such definitions as possible - suddenly, as they will say much later, the number will change in quality and at the intersection of many semantic fields, will something remotely similar to the described object still appear?
Thoughts were expressed using complex multifaceted comparisons. For example, addressing his prince, the author of the turn of the 12th-13th centuries Daniil Zatochnik consistently compares himself with “the pale grass that grew between the walls,” a lamb, a baby and a “bird of heaven” - the common thing here the fact that they all depend on mercy from above, which Daniel himself seeks from his recipient. Humanity could be likened to the temple of the wisdom of God, which rests on seven pillars, one for each of the seven Ecumenical Councils. The books themselves were figuratively called the rivers that water the Universe. The most important skill of the ancient Russian scribe was the selection of synonyms - the more, the better. For example, speaking about the Baptism of Rus', one could say that Russian people “came closer to God”, “rejected the devil”, “condemned the service of Satan”, “spit on the demon”, “knew the true God”, etc. d. And it’s especially good if all the phrases found can be combined in one sentence. It is clear that this will make the sentence longer and it will become inconvenient to read it. But the objects in question do not have to be accessible. “Difficult books” is how Christian literature is defined in one of the oldest Russian manuscripts, Prince Svyatoslav’s “Izbornik” of 1073.
It is natural to ask: how was the desire to speak in complex language about complex matters combined with one of the key postulates of the Christian faith - with the conviction of the weakness and sinfulness of man? How can a weak and sinful person write about divine truths? The obvious contradiction was removed due to the fact that complex phrases and multifaceted images of ancient Russian literature were rarely the original invention of local writers.
By the time of Epiphany, knowledge of foreign languages, especially Greek, was not uncommon. As a result, ancient Russian literature could rely, at a minimum, on the achievements of Byzantine literature, and that, in turn, combined ancient rhetoric with the rich imagery of Holy Scripture. That is, by and large, the Kyiv, Novgorod or, say, Rostov scribe had at his disposal the entire thousand-year experience of Judeo-Christian civilization - it was only necessary to select samples suitable for the occasion. If it was necessary to talk about a noble prince-warrior (for example, about Alexander Nevsky), then techniques were used that were tested by predecessors when describing the great warriors of antiquity - Gideon or Alexander Make- Don If we were talking about a criminal, then here too the previous literature provided a very representative set of examples, from Cain to tyrant emperors. At the same time, many of the authors of “exemplary” works were revered by the Church as saints, which provided some additional guarantee of the appropriateness and accuracy of borrowings - and at the same time freed those who used the findings of their predecessors from worries about their own sinfulness. It is clear that such a creative method limits the freedom of literary experimentation and is at odds with the way it is customary to write now. But for a religious culture, permeated with the idea of human sinfulness, it was precisely the strict adherence to the patterns sanctified by tradition that turned out to be the most suitable. If you are subject to devilish temptations, then it is better not to invent anything.
These were, if you like, the “theoretical foundations” of ancient Russian literature. Let us turn to the most important works created in Rus' in the 11th-13th centuries.
The first in this series should undoubtedly be called “The Tale of Law and Goodness,” written by Hilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv in 1051-1055. Apparently, the “Lay” was written even before Hilarion’s appointment to the department: the author names among the living the wife of Prince Yaroslav the Wise Irina-Ingigerda, who died back in 1050. On the other hand, Hilarion mentions the Kyiv Church of the Annunciation on the Golden Gate, built around 1037, which means that the “Slovo” was written after 1037. It is impossible to say anything more precise about the circumstances of the creation of this monument. Hilarion's biography is also very poorly known. However, the content of the Lay is eloquent in itself.
The work consists of three parts. First, Hilarion tells the reader about how humanity learned about the path of salvation and gaining eternal life: first this happened through the Old Testament, which Hilarion calls “Law,” and then through the New Testament, “Grace.” At the same time, the author pays special attention to the dual divine-human nature of Christ, explaining this complex dogma with the help of a long (almost two dozen elements!) series of paired contrasts:
“...how a man [Christ] fasted for 40 days and was hungry, but how God defeated the tempter, how a man came to a wedding in Cana of Galilee, but how God turned water into wine, how a man slept in a boat and how God stopped the wind and waves (and they listened to him)..."
Then it is reported that Rus', although it was a country of pagans, has now also joined the grace of Christianity. This gives rise to a new series of oppositions:
“Being barbarians, we called ourselves the people of God, and being enemies, we called ourselves sons, and we no longer condemn in a Jewish way, but in a Christian way we bless, and we do not think how to crucify [Christ], but to the Crucified we worship..."
Finally, Hilarion praises “the great Khagan of our land, Vladimir,” for the Baptism of Rus'. In this last part, it is strongly emphasized that Rus' is an independent and powerful state, which is “known and heard to all the ends of the earth,” and also that Vladimir came to Christ himself, without hearing the apostolic sermon and without seeing what he did. preachers of miracles. Byzantium (from where priests, church craftsmen, and books arrived in Rus') is mentioned only once. This kind of patriotism becomes especially noteworthy if we consider that it was at the time of compilation of the Lay - the 1040s - that the next military conflict between Rus' and Byzantium occurred. And Hilarion himself was appointed metropolitan by a council of bishops, without the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople, to whom the Russian Church was then subordinate. As a result, scholars often talk about the anti-Byzantine orientation of the “Tales of Law and Grace.” But even more remarkable is the author’s historical outlook: from the moment of the Baptism of Rus' to the compilation of the “Lay”, at most sixty years passed, and local scribes could already, as we see, build large-scale schemes of world history, covering times from Abraham to Yaroslav the Wise inclusive. In other words, although Hilarion emphasizes the independence of ancient Russian culture, the very text of the “Word” he composed clearly demonstrates how thoroughly Kievan Rus was included in the world cultural context.
Another famous scribe of the 11th century was Nestor. Nestor is usually known as the “chronicler” - according to the epithet that his grateful followers awarded him several centuries later. But there are a number of contradictions between the most ancient chronicles and the works signed with the name of Nestor, so modern science speaks with caution about Nestor’s participation in chronicle writing. However, there is no doubt about Nestor’s contribution to ancient Russian hagiography, that is, to the writing of the lives of saints.
Nestor’s first accomplishment in the field of hagiography was the writing of “Reading about the life and destruction of the blessed passion-bearers Boris and Gleb.” The history of princes Boris and Gleb goes back to the events of 1015, when the sons of the baptist of Rus' Vladimir Svyatoslavich, barely waiting for the death of their father, staged a bloody struggle for power. How exactly this civil strife developed is a complex question. However, relatively early on, the idea was formed that two of the heirs - Boris Rostovsky and Gleb Muromsky - did not participate in the battle and did not even resist the killers sent to them, just so as not to “raise a hand against their brother.” And in 1072, the veneration of the two princes was further strengthened thanks to the miraculous discovery of their fragrant relics. Apparently, around the same time, the oldest version of the legend about the death of Boris and Gleb appeared, notable for the lengthy and picturesque scene of the murder of Prince Boris: driven by rage, the murderers point spears at Boris, but then the action suddenly freezes, and the doomed prince says a long and pathetic prayer. Obviously, in reality everything was not like that, but Boris’s dying thoughts about death as deliverance from the temptations of this world make an indelible impression on the reader. Nestor freed the legend from some plot inconsistencies, combined the story of the death of the princes with the story of miracles from their remains, and in addition, provided the legend with a historical preface, starting it, no less, from the Fall of Adam. The result of such processing is less impressive than the original story, the action is no longer so dynamic, and the images are drier. At the same time, under the pen of Nestor, the death of Boris and Gleb turned from a private episode of local politics into a world-class event, and the Russian saints became the heavenly patrons of all Christians.
“Having been honored” to narrate the life and death of the martyred princes, Nestor, in his own words, “forced himself to turn to another story” and “attempted to write” about Saint Theodosius of Pechersk. Theodosius came from a wealthy family and could have become the heir to a large estate, but from childhood he was religious and eventually fled to Kyiv to join a monastery. In the 11th century there were few monasteries in Rus'; the one where Theodosius was taken was a simple cave dug into the steep bank of the Dnieper. However, over the course of several decades, this modest monastery turned into the center of monastic life in Rus', and Theodosius (by this time already abbot) became the recognized leader of the ascetic movement. The biography of Theodosius and the history of the formation of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery are full of dramatic episodes: the monks more than once came into open conflict with the powers that be. However, Nestor managed to reconcile the traditional form of living with reliability and psychological accuracy in the presentation of conflict situations.
The ancient Russian chronicle also represents a similar combination of following literary traditions with masterly descriptions of real everyday conflicts. The chronicle is not an ordinary “monument of literature.” She had a special task - to find the place of Rus' in the general plan of Providence regarding the history of mankind. Therefore, the chronicle story begins with a story about what kind of peoples there are on earth and where the Slavs came from, but cannot end by definition: the end of the chronicle work could only be the end of history as such, or, in other words, the Last Judgment. It is clear that one person cannot write such a work. But each subsequent scribe could edit what he inherited from his predecessors, and when the accumulated material ran out, he could supplement the chronicle text with a description of those events of which he himself was an eyewitness. When one chronicler retired, another took over the baton, and so gradually, generation after generation, the chronicles grew from a relatively small narrative about the “beginning of the Russian land” into extensive historical canvases, covering events from the Great Flood to the current reign prince
The first of these so-called chronicle collections was created in Kyiv no later than the 30s of the 11th century, and at the beginning of the 12th century, another expansion and revision of the same text basically led to the emergence of a work that is now published under the title The Tale of Bygone Years. When exactly this name appeared - at the beginning of the 12th century or earlier - is difficult to say. But in essence, it clearly indicates the religious meaning of the chronicle work: “at times” and “years”, or “temporary years” in the Slavic translation of the book of the Acts of the Apostles refers to the period of the Last Judgment established by God. And since a “story” is already being written about these last years of the world’s existence, it means that the second coming will happen any day now and we must be prepared for it.
A specific vision of the task of their own work early led chroniclers to a very “anti-artistic” method of organizing material: with rare exceptions, events were recorded in strictly chronological order, in separate “chapters” devoted to incidents of one year and beginning with the standard heading “In the summer of such and such” (in science it is customary to call these “chapters” annual articles). It is inconvenient to read such a text: the headlines of subsequent articles interrupt the story at the most interesting point, and even the immediate cause and effect may be separated into different articles and broken up by messages about completely different events and processes. It’s also difficult for the narrator: his ability to develop the plot and reveal the characters of the characters is inevitably limited to one year. However, the logic of the divine plan still cannot be accessible to the average person, so for the medieval consciousness the grid of dates remained almost the only visual reference point in the element of events.
Some chronicle news is extremely laconic (“The saints were transferred to the Church of the Holy Mother of God” or “Prince Yaroslav went to war against Lithuania”). Others (for example, the story about the kidnapping and blinding of Prince Vasilko Rosti-slavich in 1097) are detailed narratives with vivid characters and scenes full of drama. And the authors are not always loyal to the current government: the chronicle pages mention the miscalculations of princes, the abuses of boyars, and church “rebellions.” At the beginning of the 12th century, the critical tone of the chroniclers weakened somewhat; a comprehensive view of events gave way to praise of the ruling princes. However, in Rus' there were several chronicle writing traditions: in addition to Kyiv (where chronicle writing originated), Novgorod, the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, as well as in Volyn and the Galician land had their own chroniclers. As a result, modern researchers are presented with a detailed and multifaceted picture of the political life of Russian lands.
The political rise of Rus', which marked the 11th century, quickly gave way to an era of fragmentation. However, from the point of view of literature, the new historical period was no less interesting than the previous one. The second half of the 12th century saw the work of the famous composer of church hymns and teachings, Cyril of Turov. His "Tale of the Blind and the Lame" is a sophisticated parable about the nature of sin. And at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, no less sophisticated praise of the power of the grand princely power appeared in the Vladimir land - “The Word” (in another version - “Prayer”) by Daniil Zatochnik, about which there was already an opportunity to speak above. However, the most famous and most in demand among modern readers remains another famous monument of this time - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is very original. Its plot is built not around the figure of some saint and not around a miracle revealed from above, and not even around a heroically won battle, but around the unsuccessful campaign of Prince of Novgorod-Seversk Igor Svyatoslavich against the steppe nomads in 1185. The text opens with a story about the advance of Russian troops into the steppe and that the beginning of the expedition was accompanied by an ominous sign - a solar eclipse. Then follows a description of two battles: one unfolds successfully for the Russian troops, and the second ends in defeat, after which the prince-leaders, led by Igor, are captured. Then the action moves to Rus', and the reader finds himself first in Kyiv, at the council of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav with the boyars, and then in Putivl, where his wife Yaroslavna is crying about the missing Igor on the city wall. The Lay ends with a message about Igor’s escape from Polovtsian captivity: to the joy of Rus' and surrounding countries, the prince triumphantly returns to Kyiv.
Describing all these events, the author of “The Lay” actively uses very complex metaphors (“There was not enough blood wine, here the brave Russians finished the feast: they gave the matchmakers drink, and they themselves died for the Russian land”); non-Christian gods and mythological creatures are mentioned: Divas, winds - Stribozh’s grandchildren, “great Horse”, etc. The author’s assessment and, especially, Christian morality are almost completely hidden behind this bizarre verbal pattern.
One might think that this is a military epic, similar to, say, the Old French “Song of Roland.” But the most important feature of an epic is a poetic form with a clear meter, and it cannot be identified in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” In addition, along with the “pagan” or “folk”, the Christian, bookish component is also represented in the imagery of the “Word”. So, in order to show the devastation of the Russian land from princely civil strife, the author describes flocks of birds that eat corpses:
“Then on Russian soil the cry of a plowman was rarely heard, but crows often croaked, dividing corpses, and jackdaws spoke in their own language, gathering for prey.”
Biblical prophecies also mention corpses that will become food for birds when God turns away from Israel for their sins. It is also noteworthy that Prince Svyatoslav’s arguments to the boyars (defined by the author himself as the “golden word”) are devoted not so much to the need to fight the enemies of Rus', but to the pride of those who do it at the wrong time:
“Oh, my nephews, Igor and Vsevolod! Early on you began to cut down the Polovtsian land with swords and gain glory for yourself. You won dishonorably, you shed the blood of the filthy ones dishonestly. Your brave hearts are forged from cruel damask steel and tempered with audacity. What have you done to my silver gray hair!”
In other words, the theme of “The Lay” is not only military valor, but also the audacity of princely thoughts. And this is already a predominantly bookish, essentially Christian motif.
The unusual composition and imagery played a cruel joke on “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The strange work was not popular among readers and copyists. Only one of his manuscripts has reached modern times, found by antiquities lovers at the end of the 18th century and published in 1800. And when this manuscript was destroyed during the famous Moscow fire of 1812, skeptical researchers were able to assert that the Lay was a late forgery, which unscrupulous publishers, for one reason or another, passed off as a monument of the 12th century. Modern science: the language of the “Lay” is very close to the language of authentic monuments of the 12th century; A falsifier from the time of Catherine II would not have been able to reproduce so well the grammar and vocabulary of the Old Russian language - especially those features that have become understandable only in our days. At the same time, the very emergence of a dispute about the origin of the “Word” clearly demonstrates the unusualness of this monument for the ancient Russian book literature of the pre-Mongol era.
Not all works of ancient Russian literature of the 11th-13th centuries have reached us. Books were composed, copied, read and stored primarily in cities, and cities were built mainly from wood, often burned, and libraries perished in the flames of these fires. In addition, large cities and rich monasteries were an attractive target for invaders - which is why the Horde invasion of the mid-13th century was a strong blow to literature. However, much has been preserved, not least thanks to the diligence of subsequent generations. From the point of view of the scribes of the 14th-17th centuries, the vocabulary of the pre-Mongol period, which followed Byzantine models, itself turned into a time-honored example to follow, and what was written by the great predecessors should have been preserved and disseminated. And although the originals of most works of the 11th-13th centuries have not reached us, thanks to copies made from them in subsequent centuries, modern researchers have a very detailed idea of how ancient Russian literature began.