A course of lectures on Old Russian literature and literature of the 18th century for first-year students of the Faculty of Russian Language, Literature and Foreign Languages. Literature of the Peter I era

History

The composition of fiction of that era was extremely diverse. The handwritten collections contained works of various genres: adaptations of folklore - epics, historical songs, spiritual poems and fairy tales. In these alterations and retellings of the early 18th century. works of oral folk art receive new titles: “legend”, “story”, “history” (“historia”). For example, “The Tale of the Seven Russian Bogatyrs” from Buslaev’s collection, “The Tale of the Glorious Mighty Bogatyr about Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber” (“The History of Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber”) and many others.

Then, throughout the entire 18th century, and especially in its first half, various ancient Russian stories were rewritten many times, and many of them were subjected to creative revision. For example, a story on military theme: “The Story of the Massacre of Mamaev” and “The Story of the Kazan Kingdom”, stories about the capture of Azov, the popularity of which in the Peter the Great era is quite understandable. Various didactic stories, such as the story of Akira the Wise, Basarga, Varlaam and Joasaph. And of course, old Russian hagiographic stories are being rewritten, such as, for example, the life of Alexei, the man of God, the life of Peter and Fevronia of Murom.

They are also found repeatedly in handwritten collections of the 18th century. came to Rus' in the 16th-17th centuries. old translated knightly tales about Bruntsvik, Peter the Golden Keys, Vasily Zlatovlas, Bova Korolevich, of which the last two are being processed. Translated legends of ancient Russian literature are being rewritten, such as the legend of the proud Tsar Haggai and Pope Gregory. The latter also receives a new edition.

In connection with the general intensified process of Europeanization of Russia, in the literature of the first third XVIII century, along with works of folklore and stories of ancient Rus', translated Western European stories are widely represented. Characters are borrowed from all countries Western Europe: Germany, France (“The History of Melandra, Queen of France and the Elector of Saxony Augustus”), Spain (“The History of the Gishpan nobleman Dolthorn”), England (“The History of the English My Lord Gereon”), Italy (“The History of Prince Cylodon of Italy” ) etc. All kinds of exotic adventure stories, the action of which takes place either in Africa, or in Asia, or even in America or Lapland, are also translated many times. P. N. Sakulin conventionally shares the translated stories of the first half XVII 1st century into two main groups: love-adventure stories (chivalrous novels in folk processing) and sensitive and moralizing, but emphasizes that everywhere the main interest of the translated story is the external entertainingness of the plot.

Together with recordings of works of oral folk art, editing of old Russian stories and a wide stream of translated Western European literature in fiction of the early 18th century. A new original Russian story is also developing. This story creates its own special style, ideology, theme, and its own typical hero. This story is a special stage in the development of Russian literature

The most common hero is an elegant “cavalier”, a young Russian nobleman affected by the influence of European culture, undertaking travels to “Europe”, in a foreign setting, showing the proper gallantry and sophistication, in accordance with the ideal requirements of knightly traditions. The theme of love affairs begins to occupy a special place - it becomes central. "How in military stories permanent formulas of battle have been created, so now stable formulas of love are being laid down Love is an arrow (Cupid's arrow) pierced into the heart, a flame that burns it, a sweet disease that requires a doctor and medicine. The entire language of the stories is replete with barbarisms and neologisms; the Old Slavonic element of bookish speech is apparently dying out under the pressure of new elements of colloquial and business language.” 1

The most typical among the original stories of the Peter the Great era are the following: “The story of Alexander the Russian nobleman”, the story of the “Russian sailor Vasily” and “The story of Russian merchant John."

The first two of them reflect elements of the life and customs of the Russian nobility of the early 18th century, the third - the merchants.

“The story of the Russian sailor Vasily” is known from three lists XVIII V. The hero of this story - Vasily Koriotsky, the son of a poor nobleman - lived in “Russian Europe”. Wanting to get out of the “great poverty” that surrounded him, the young man went to “St. Petersburg”, signed up as a sailor there, and then, together with other young nobles, was sent by the government to Holland “for a better knowledge of the sciences.” There he lived and studied practically with the “Galan guest”. During these years, Vasily persistently studied maritime affairs and generously helped his parents. At the end of the business trip, despite the persuasion of his patron, the young man went home to see his father. The storm wrecked the ship and brought Vasily to the robber island. A series of adventures begins. First, the Russian sailor, out of necessity, became a robber chieftain, then, captivated by the beauty of the captive princess Irakliya, he freed her, fled with her from the robbers, wandered for a long time, defeated the treachery of an unexpected rival admiral, then married Irakliya and after the death of his father-in-law became the “King of Florence” "

The work clearly falls into two parts: the first of them is an everyday story about the life of a young nobleman sent abroad by the government to receive an education; the second is a love-adventure story, built partly on the motives of Russian so-called “robber” songs and fairy tales, partly on examples of translated Western European stories.

The first part of the “history”, due to its real-life content, provides a lot of material for clarifying the question of how typical it was for the first third of the 18th century. the image of the hero of the story: a nobleman - “Russian sailor” Vasily.

Memoirs

Sending noble youth abroad to receive an education, especially to study various branches of naval knowledge, as they said then, “navigational science” and “military articulation,” was a typical phenomenon of the Peter the Great era.

The nobility, which at first expressed dissatisfaction with Peter's drastic measures to impose education, little by little began to understand the benefits of education and the need for it to occupy the highest government positions.

At the same time, educational activities were carried out: schools, gymnasiums and a university at the Academy of Sciences were opened, young people were sent abroad to study the sciences and “political morals”

Becomes very popular at this time special genre memoirs, a variety of which are notes about events, autobiographies, diaries. In terms of content, these are memories of the past, written by participants or eyewitnesses of any events. They are narratives about significant events in the domestic and foreign policy life of the country, and talk about historical figures.

Autobiographies examine events through the prism of the author's life path. A diary, unlike notes, consists of fragmentary entries, always recorded synchronously with events. A type of diary is travel notes - one of the most widely represented genre groups of memoir literature of Peter's time. In addition, travel notes, as a rule, were processed after the trip on the basis of travel diaries, therefore, they contain the author’s retrospective view of the events.

Here, first of all, we should name the works of Prince B.I. Kurakin of various genres: autobiography (1709), travel notes (1705-1710), “History of Tsar Peter Alekseevich” (1727) - a historical work with memoir elements ( notes about events). The choice of Kurakin’s works is due to his rich biography.

Boris Ivanovich Kurakin (1676--1727) was a major general, colonel of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, one of the first Russian professional diplomats. In his youth he was sent as a volunteer to Italy, where he studied mathematics, fortification, European languages. And also, he took part in major military battles as a military man: the Azov campaigns, the campaign near Narva, the Battle of Poltava.

Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy (1645-1729) was the steward of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, under Peter I he studied maritime affairs in Italy as a volunteer, and later served as a diplomat in Turkey and Western European countries. He was a man who had extraordinary statesmanship and diplomatic abilities, combining a brilliant memory and a sharp mind, caution and foresight in decisions political problems, high education and culture of communication, called by a contemporary “the smartest head in Russia.” His travel notes 1697-1699. are of undoubted interest.

The work of another diplomat, Andrei Artamonovich Matveev (1666-1728), represents a transitional form between article lists and travel notes, which is reflected in its title - “Archive, or Article list of the Moscow embassy, ​​which was in France from Holland incognito in the past , 1705, September 5th day." But it also reflects the author's varied observations of Western life. European countries.

"Walking to the Holy Land"

Also one of the outstanding literary monuments of the Peter the Great era is “Walking to the Holy Land” by Ioann Lukyanov. This is a landmark work of Russian pilgrimage literature, summing up the development of travel notes Ancient Rus' and laying the foundations of the “travel” genre of the New Age. “Walking” is of great interest to historians of language and literature, since it was created at the beginning of the 18th century. a writer developing the traditions of Archpriest Avvakum.

"Walking" is a description of the journey to Constantinople, Egypt and Jerusalem, made in 1701-1703. a Moscow priest who, after returning to his homeland, became one of the leaders of the Old Believers.

Ioann Lukyanov is a bright, gifted personality, in many ways ahead of his era. It is difficult to clearly determine who he is - a militant traditionalist or a bold innovator. His position in religious political struggle and literary affairs at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries was too complex and ambiguous. A Moscow priest from Arbat, who secretly professed the “old faith,” a traveler and publicist, an active preacher of the Old Believers in Moscow, on Vetka and in the Bryn forests, Ioann Lukyanov left a noticeable mark on the history of the Russian church and literature.

“Our literature suddenly appeared in the 18th century,” wrote Pushkin, knowing full well that its origins go back to ancient times. With the word “suddenly,” Pushkin emphasized the special, unprecedented nature of the dynamic development of Russia at that time. XVIII century - this is the era of the rapid formation of new Russian literature. Over the course of several decades, Russian literature has caught up with Western literature. The literary phenomena of this period are so compressed in time that already in the era of classicism elements of sentimentalism appeared; new syllabic-tonic versification(see about this below) coexists with archaic verses. Talking about literature XVII I c., we often encounter phenomena that, although not of interest from an aesthetic or artistic point of view, are of great importance from the point of view of the historical and literary process. Poems by V.K. Trediakovsky is almost impossible to read, but he is the creator of modern versification. And none other than Pushkin stood up for Trediakovsky when I.I. Lazhechnikov in his historical novel “The Ice House” brought out the poet of the 18th century. in the guise of an insignificant jester: “His philological and grammatical research is very remarkable. He had the most extensive concepts about Russian versification... In general, studying Trediakovsky is more useful than studying our other writers.”

Periodization of Russian literature of the 18th century. traditionally relies on leading stylistic trends in artistic culture that time. In general, it can be presented in the form of the following table:

1. Literature of Peter's time

First quarter of the 18th century was marked by major transformations in the economic, political and cultural life Russia. Peter's reforms marked the beginning of the process of Europeanization of Russia, and this process also captured the field of literary creativity. The literature of modern times decisively emerged from church influence, adopted the European concept of enlightened absolutism, having before its eyes the living example of Peter I. Peter I, in turn, sought to use literature for state needs, to promote new ideas. The particularly educational, openly didactic character of Russian literature of the Peter the Great era will remain throughout the entire 18th century. and acquires a new quality in the Russian classics of the 19th century.

However, Russian literature of the first quarter of the 18th century. in terms of its artistic capabilities, it clearly lagged behind the needs of the time, and the scope of Peter’s transformations. It is not for nothing that the era of Peter the Great is often called the most “non-literary era” in Russian history. Literature 1700-1720s represents strange picture a mixture of old and new, it is generally still of a transitional nature. In the time of Peter the Great, the old handwritten tradition of Old Russian literature continued to exist and develop - it remained on the periphery of the general literary process in Russia until the end of the 18th century, and some of its phenomena will survive to this day (Old Believer estachological writings and journalism).

The secularization of culture led to liberation artistic creativity; Another thing is that the writer often did not know how to use this freedom. Literature under Peter not only serves practical purposes, it also entertains, exploring new topics that were once forbidden to it. Old Russian literature knew almost no love theme (with rare exceptions, love is interpreted as an obsession of the devil; it was only recognized conjugal love). In the era of Peter the Great it spreads love lyrics(the so-called “edges”), in which folklore images from folk poetry peacefully coexisted with ancient mythological motifs. Secular stories with an exciting adventure story. These stories were distributed in manuscripts, were anonymous and were built according to the type that were popular in the late 17th - early 18th centuries. translated short stories and adventure novels. However, the hero of these stories was a young man typical of Peter the Great's era. Usually ignorant, but educated, energetic and enterprising, he achieved fame, wealth, recognition solely through his personal merits. This is the “History of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky and the princess Heraclius of the Florentine land.” The style of this story is strikingly eclectic - along with the traditional gallant vocabulary of translated knightly novels - barbarisms and clericalisms, going back to the business writing of Peter the Great's time, the language of the Vedomosti and Kurantov newspapers, and even the language of translated textbooks on natural history and exact sciences. These stories most clearly revealed the Achilles heel of Peter's culture as a whole: the lack literary language, which could adequately convey those new concepts in the field of culture, philosophy, and politics that the era of Peter the Great's reforms brought with it. The writers of Peter the Great's era bequeathed the task of creating a new literary Russian language to a new generation of writers.

The traditions of school drama continued to develop in Peter's literature. The emergence of a school theater within the walls of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy played a big role here. Religious plots in this dramatic genre were replaced by secular ones, telling about political current events, containing panegyrics to Peter I and his associates. In the future, the journalistic and panegyric character of dramaturgy is further enhanced. The genre of school drama took a central place in the work of Feofan Prokopovich (1681-1736) - a brilliant speaker, publicist, playwright and poet. The tragicomedy “Vladimir” (1705) occupies a central place in his work. Depicting in this play the events associated with the adoption of Christianity in Rus' under Vladimir, Theophanes allegorically glorified the transformations of Peter and satirically ridiculed his opponents. The tragicomedy “Vladimir” bore the features of future classicist drama: the conflict between passion and reason, unity of action and time, clarity and clarity of composition.

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Introduction…………………………………………………….3

Chapter I Prose of the Peter I era…………………………..4-6

Chapter II Poetry of the early 18th century………………………7-9

Chapter III Drama and theater of the Peter the Great era………...10-12

Conclusion…………………………………………………. 13

References………………………………………….14

Introduction:

One of the most important achievements of the transition period, and Peter's time in particular, was the development of a new concept of man, a new solution to the problem of personality. Man ceases to be only a source of sinfulness. He is perceived as an active personality, valuable both in himself and in to a greater extent for “services to the fatherland,” when not wealth and nobility of the family, but public benefit, intelligence and courage can elevate a person to one of the highest steps of the social ladder.

Peter I put into practice one of the main postulates of the Enlightenment - the demand for the extra-class value of a person. Later, in 1722, he would fix this provision legislatively in the “Table of Ranks of all ranks of the military, civil and court,” which opened the possibility for non-nobles to receive a noble rank for services to the state. It is possible that, first of all, it was this legislative act that Belinsky had in mind when he assessed the reforms of Peter I: “The reform of Peter the Great did not destroy, did not destroy the walls that separated one class from another in the old society, but it undermined the foundation of these walls, and if it didn’t knock them down, then it tilted them to one side, and now from day to day they are tilting more and more.”

A person in Peter’s time already deserves to have government policy explained to him, so that he does not act blindly on orders, but is imbued with an awareness of the necessity and benefits of certain government measures.

Against the backdrop of great achievements in many areas of economic, political and public life successes in the literature of the transition period were much more modest, although the literary process itself was very complex.

The inner world of a person becomes bifurcated. Instead of the “coincidence of opposites,” there appears “an antagonistic struggle between two hostile principles in all living things. These two principles - body and soul, passion and mind, natural attraction and moral dictates, national life and laws - coexist, but do not transform into each other. Each of them seeks to subjugate and suppress the other.” Hence such characteristic themes for Baroque works as “life is a dream” (remember death), as well as irrational (intuitive) knowledge of reality, a tendency towards mysticism.

Chapter I. Prose of the Peter I era

As Lebedeva notes, despite the rapid development of book printing in the era of Peter I, the main reading circle of the mass Russian reader was traditional handwritten collections of stories, or “histories,” as they began to be called at that time. The process of producing these collections in the transitional era was very intensified. Based on the composition of handwritten collections of stories, the genre composition of mass Russian fiction of the first quarter of the 18th century can be reconstructed, in the depths of which the type of authorless history of the Petrine era was formed - and despite its obvious dependence on the ancient Russian narrative tradition (anonymity and handwriting are characteristic features of the stories of the Petrine era, related it with ancient Russian literature), as well as from the Western European model of the genre (typological adventure plot), authorless histories, focused on their historical contemporaneity and created by people of their era, reflected both the novelty of Russian social life at the beginning of the 18th century, and new type consciousness of its nameless authors.

One of the most typical examples of the genre is “The story of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky and the beautiful princess Irakli of the Florensky land.” Compositionally, the work falls into two unequal parts: the first, more laconic, tells about the life of the young nobleman Vasily Koriotsky, who entered the sovereign's service, and the second, more extensive, about his incredible adventures in Europe. The first part has a pronounced everyday descriptive character; the second, more conventional, is built partly on the model of Russian folk epics and robber tales, and partly on the model of a Western European love-adventure story. However, against the background of this clearly tangible narrative tradition, the novelty of the real signs of life of the Peter the Great era recorded in the story, as well as the novelty of the hero and the principles of the narrative, becomes even more obvious.

“Histories” about the sailor Vasily differs significantly from the narrative works of the second half of the 17th century. “Histories” are entirely secular works; their plot is fictional and develops along the lines of revealing the character of the main character, whose fate is the result of his actions.

Innovations begin literally from the beginning of the story: “In Russian Europe there is a certain lively nobleman...”. It is quite obvious that Russia could be called “Russian Europe” no earlier than the end of the reign of Peter I, and only in them could that typical biography of a young nobleman of the Peter I era be realized, the initial stage of which is quite traditional - the hero leaves home from “great poverty” ", But further events are directly determined by the novelty of the Russian way of life, because Vasily Koriotsky enters the service not just anywhere, but in the navy. The fleet is a symbol of everything new in Russian life at the beginning of the 18th century, favorite child Peter, the most convenient springboard for a career, since it was sailors and naval officers who most often went abroad to receive an education.

The most important thing is than the historical era of the first thirty years of the 18th century. determined the poetics of the authorless history that arose at that time and most clearly

characterized by the belonging of this genre to new literature is the dominant position of the category of hero in the system of aesthetic categories of storytelling. Both the plot, composition, and style of the story are determined by the central position of the character, the task of his fullest disclosure. All plot episodes of the story are built on the principle of contrast, the difference in life situations from happiness to unhappiness, from poverty to prosperity, in which personal merits and character traits can best manifest themselves.

New in Russian stories of the early 18th century. is the development of a love theme. This theme not only forms the beginning of the plot, but also serves to reveal the character of the hero. The European culture of love, which manifests itself in kneeling, playing the harp, poetic praise of a beautiful lady and the refined courtesy of relationships, is embodied in the story of the mutual love of a Russian sailor and a beautiful princess.

Tales of the first decades of the 18th century. also reflected the educational ideas of Peter the Great's time. This was most clearly reflected in such qualities of the hero as “sharpness of mind” and his success in science. It is these personal merits that are revealed both in the author’s direct statements and in the opinions of other characters in the story.

A compositional feature of Russian stories of Peter the Great's time is the inclusion of songs in them - “arias”, which are performed by the heroes during the action.

In terms of their composition, these “arias” are typical examples of love lyrics of the early 18th century, which combine features of the Renaissance and Baroque styles: allegorism, hypertrophied emotionality, mention ancient gods and goddesses (Cupid, Fortune, Mars).

These song-arias are not the fruit of the personal creativity of the authors of the “histories”. Common in everyday life and in handwritten collections, they are included in the fabric of the narrative almost mechanically, not expressing the individual feelings of the hero, but conveying their typology.

“The history of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky...”, standing on the threshold of new Russian literature, outlined the timid and at first difficult to discern origins of one of the most important ideological and aesthetic trends in the development of Russian literature not only in the 18th, but also in the 19th century: the search for an epochal type personality, the desire to comprehend a person through his historical era, and the history and essence of a historical era - through the type of personality formed by it. Thus, the authorless histories of the Peter the Great era underlie one of the most powerful genre traditions of Russian literature - the tradition historical novel and a novel about modernity.

Chapter II. Poetry of the early 18th century

Peter's reforms concerned primarily the practical sphere. A thin layer of the Russian intelligentsia, willy-nilly, was absorbed in this work and had no strength left to engage in art. Book monasticism was quickly losing its dominant position in verbal culture, and its replacement was gradually being prepared. The nobles served until death, old age, or serious injury. However, it was precisely in the era of Peter the Great that fundamental changes took place in Russian literary life, which predetermined the powerful development of poetry and prose.

Literature was allowed to perform not only practical functions, which Peter considered the most important. She also had to entertain; for entertainment, everyone could write freely - as a private person, outside and in addition to official duties. The writer became a private man, the private man became a writer. This, it seems to me, is the meaning of the revolution in literary life that happened under Peter. This was also a kind of reform, and a reform with far-reaching consequences. If the transformation of a writer into a contract worker, into an employee, into a literary day laborer meant a manifold increase in the flow of natural science, legal, medical, etc. translations aimed at public benefit, His transformation into a private person, independent of “Christian freedom,” immediately resonated in the thematic and genre areas. Two consequences immediately appeared: the bans on laughter and love were lifted.

In the splendid old-Moscow life, every day and every hour was planned down to the smallest detail - and there was no room for laughter. Even the Greek shepherds of the same faith found Russian good behavior difficult. The ban on laughter is explained by extra-literary reasons. Under Peter, laughter became an indispensable ingredient of court life. As a sovereign, as a secular head of the church, and finally, as a parishioner, Peter was pious; he knew the church service down to its intricacies and loved to sing on the choir. Feofan Prokopovich, being the pastor of the church, condemned the exemplary preacher of the Polish Baroque Tomasz Mlodzianowski for the comic effect that his concepts and applications produced. But in private life, Feofan wrote humorous epitaphs, for example, to Hierodeacon Adam, or the comic cycle “Thanksgiving from the brownie servants for the new-minded malt to the housekeeper Gerasim.” He did not hesitate to parody Scripture.

Numerous examples of love poems from the early 18th century, found in handwritten collections, allow us to get an idea of ​​their character. They are distinguished by extreme diversity of vocabulary. Along with Church Slavonicisms, the presence of Ukrainian and Polish phraseology, there are inclusions of the business language of Peter the Great’s time, flavored with mannerism and gallant sophistication, which indicates the active linguistic influence of translated literature, which played a significant role in the formation of the Russian language in the first decades of the 18th century. Metaphors, images and symbols associated with the traditions of the Western European Renaissance appear in book poetry. Love poems are replete with the names of ancient gods and goddesses: the hero mourns his heart, shot by “the sharp arrow of Cupid” (Cupid).

Love lyrics of the first decades of the 18th century. painted in sensitive - sentimental tones, equipped with emotionally uplifting phraseology: the hearts of lovers are “wounded by sadness”, they shed “tearful rain”, their love is a “flame”, it “gives sparks in the heart”, ignites “fire”. Spectacular baroque comparisons of the beloved’s beauty with flowers, with precious stones and metals (“the most fragrant color, the most beautiful sapphire,” “the priceless beauty, the braliant,” “the eye has a magnet in itself”) create the unique character of these songs - early examples of Russian poetry.

In the formation of the “love phraseology” of literature, a certain role belongs to the folk lyrical song. The translated literature that came to Russia at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries had a significant impact on the love poetry of this time. through Poland.

The most important place in poetry was occupied by panegyric poems, solemn “kants” and victorious “vivas” on the occasion of Russia’s military successes or other important state events. This phenomenon is extremely important for the history of Russian literature of the period under review as a clear indicator of the continuity of literary traditions. “Kants” and “vivats” have a predecessor - a collection of baroque poems “in case” by Simeon of Polotsk “Rhythmologion”. They also have a clearly visible “descendant” - the classic ode. As an example, we can cite the famous cant of Demetrius of Rostov on the capture of Narva, which spoke of the struggle of the eagle, the symbol of Russia, with the lion, the symbol of Sweden. Everything is built on a skillful interweaving of mythological images: the lion, the emblem of Sweden, acquires the name “Nemean” and is thus associated with one of the labors of Hercules; Peter is a stone, and this translation often appeared in modern church sermons, viva is a Latin greeting cry, which it was Peter who officially introduced into Russian life.
Horatian-Epicurean themes and motifs, which were not characteristic of the previous literary tradition, are also noted in the poetry of Peter's time. Such, for example, is the “Drinking Song,” which was a half-retelling and half-translation of the famous student anthem “Gaudeamus igitur.” Its second part contains a number of specific details of the feast of the epicurean-minded nobles of Peter's time, immediately named (princes Masalsky, Ivan and Boris Golitsyn, etc.).

The transformation of the writer into a private person, not bound by “Christian freedom,” seems to me the most characteristic and promising feature of the literary life of Peter the Great’s time. The results of this metamorphosis were immediately reflected in the lifting of the ban on laughter and love. In the first quarter of the 18th century. these results were still in potency. The poetic quality was low, because poetry was practiced by amateurs. Somewhat later the quality also changed.

Description of work

One of the most important achievements of the transition period, and Peter's time in particular, was the development of a new concept of man, a new solution to the problem of personality. Man ceases to be only a source of sinfulness. He is perceived as an active personality, valuable in itself and even more so for “services to the fatherland,” when not wealth and nobility of the family, but public benefit, intelligence and courage can elevate a person to one of the highest steps of the social ladder.

(first quarter of the 18th century): new trends, in comparison with ancient Russian literature, emerged in the literature of this period, and a sharp “secularization” of culture and life took place; old genre formations were filled with new content; the formation of a single national language. Oratory became the leading art in the culture of the Peter the Great era: Stefan Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich and others. The first Russian printed newspaper was Vedomosti. Along with handwritten literature, printed literature is increasingly appearing; along with anonymous – author’s; Along with original works, there are an abundance of translated ones. Remaining syllabic, the poetry is transformed, intimate lyrics appear. The theater is evolving: from school theater to newly revived court theater and created public theater. The exponent of the era was Feofan Prokopovich. Pre-classicism is being formed. A feature of the era is the active personal participation of Peter the Great.
2. Literature 1730 – 1750s: on the basis of pre-classicism and under the influence of French classicism, classicism was formed as a direction and artistic method in art and literature; a system of genres is emerging. During this period, the reform of Russian versification was completed. The work of A. D. Kantemir and V. K. Trediakovsky completed the transition from pre-classicism to classicism, the pinnacle of which were the works of M. V. Lomonosov and A. P. Sumarokov. A permanent Russian theater with Russian repertoire was created.
3. Literature 1760 – first half of the 1770s: there is a rise in social thought, in Russian society Enlightenment ideas of the West penetrated this period. The period was characterized by the flourishing of satire and journalism (for the first time in Russia, through the efforts of N.I. Novikov and his supporters, opposition to government circles was created in society). The uprising of E. Pugachev made peasant theme leading in literature. In the depths of classicism, a new literary direction was born - sentimentalism. The democratization of the literary process leads to the appearance of novels and stories by F. Emin, M. Chulkov and others [ 181; 182; 183;184; 191 ].
4. Literature of the last quarter of the 18th century: the period is characterized by the decline of classicism, further evolution and the flowering of sentimentalism, the emergence of realistic tendencies. The last quarter of the 18th century is the era of creativity of D. I. Fonvizin, A. N. Radishchev, M. N. Muravyov, Ya. B. Knyazhnin, G. R. Derzhavin, N. M. Karamzin, I. I. Dmitriev, young I. A. Krylov.

Lecture No. 2. Literature of the Petrine era (First quarter of the 18th century)

Plan

1. The process of Europeanization of Russia.
2. Translated prose.
3. Oratory.
4. Original stories.
5. Poetry.
6. Theater.
7. Folklore.
8. Baroque.
9. Art (painting, architecture, sculpture) of the Peter the Great era ( student messages).

Literature

Lyrics

Russian literature of the 18th century: Reader / Comp. G. P. Makogonenko. L., 1970.
Russian literature of the 18th century. 1700–1775: Reader / Comp. V. A. Zapadov. M., 1979.
Reader on Russian literature of the 18th century / Comp. A. V. Kokorev. M., 1965.

Research

Valitskaya A. P. Russian aesthetics of the 18th century. M., 1983.
Demin A. S. Russian literature of the second half of the 17th – early 18th centuries: New artistic ideas about the world, nature, man. M., 1977.
Kulakova L. I. Essays on the history of Russian aesthetic thought of the 18th century. L., 1968.
Panchenko A. M. Russian culture on the eve of Peter's reforms. L., 1984.
Panchenko A. M. The origins of Russian poetry // Russian syllabic poetry of the 17th–18th centuries. L., 1970.
Fedorov V. I. Literary trends in Russian literature of the 18th century. M., 1979.

The process of Europeanization of Russia

The process of Europeanization of Russia began with the Petrine era. P. N. Berkov attributes the problem of Europeanization of Russia to the peculiarities of the Russian literary process of the 18th century. This is a very complex historical, social and literary phenomenon [ 96 . pp. 128–171]. Russian literature of the late 17th – early 18th centuries, that is, the first period of “new” Russian literature, has reached us mainly in handwritten form, mostly in anonymous and undated texts. For a long time it was believed (in old literary criticism and even in Soviet times) that the literature of the Petrine era was a stop in literary development, that there is nothing new or original in it, that the medieval church-ascetic worldview still fettered minds and stifled literary talents. However, already in the works of Simeon of Polotsk (Petrovsky-Sitnianovich, 1629–1680) and his students Sylvester Medvedev (1641–1691) and Karion Istomin (mid-17th - first quarter of the 18th century), new features appeared in the traditional worldview that promoted educational ideas: “Reading itself makes many people wise, as it ignites light in darkness” (Simeon of Polotsk). It was not stagnation and decline that flourished in the literary process of this time, but a struggle between conservative and “enlightenment” trends in literature. The new, with difficulty, won in the works of Stefan Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich and other authors. The new triumphed because it was brought to life by the historical needs of Russian life during this most difficult period.
For a long time, science believed that the new things that were emerging were the fruits of the “Europeanization of Russia” and nothing more. What is Europeanization? - “perestroika in a European way.” This definition is too general. Of course, one cannot deny the orientation of Peter the Great, Elizabeth, Catherine the Second towards Europe; but “Europeanization,” according to P. N. Berkov, did not cover all aspects of Russian life; it was part of government policy. Peter strove to transform Russia into a strong state, but he was hampered by the church and the boyars, so he strictly enforced the principle of secularization of public life. However, elements of European culture underwent significant changes in Russia under the influence of economic, political and other traditions. The conquests in Russian literature of the 18th century were the result not only of the “Europeanization” of Russia, but also of our own, national traditions. Long before the start of “Europeanization,” we had successes in poetry (Simeon of Polotsk and his school), and in drama, and in prose. Old Russian literature (especially the rapid development of literature of the 17th century) contributed to the emergence of traditions national culture. The gap between Old Russian and “new” literature did not exist and could not exist: throughout the entire 18th century (and beyond!) the traditions of Old Russian literature continued to function, giving way to new literature, but without disappearing. When speaking of “new,” one should keep in mind the conventions of this term: 1700 was not a border post; the process of transition from “old” literature to “new” proceeded unnoticeably, gradually. Old literary forms and genres gradually died out, giving way to new ones. The literature of the Petrine era is this transition. A new literary language gradually emerged. The mixture of Church Slavonic and colloquial Russian gave birth to the literary language that Lomonosov called Russian. A sign of the language process was the abundance of barbarisms - foreign words in the language.
Thus, “Europeanization” is a kind of “pulling up” of Russia to the cultural level of European countries (Holland, Northern Germany, later France, Austria and other European countries). “Europeanization” contributed to the development of the Russian language and literature, accelerated the Russian historical and literary process; Moreover, Russian literary and cultural figures turned to both ancient sources and European ones.

Translated prose

Peter the Great perfectly understood the meaning of the word in the political struggle, therefore he devoted a large place to journalism: he created the first printed newspaper “Vedomosti”, where reforms were promoted. A characteristic feature of the Russian enlightened absolutism there were peculiar concerns of the government about translation into Russian from foreign languages useful books for lifting cultural level subjects. Each era in its own way understood the “usefulness” of books planned for translation: under Peter, on his instructions, practically useful books were translated and published - textbooks, popular works on mathematics, geography, astronomy, military affairs, history, ethics, and so on. For example, “The butts of how different compliments are written” (1709) about European forms of politeness in letters; “An Honest Mirror of Youth” (1717) about etiquette and everyday life; “The War of Mice and Frogs”, Aesop’s fables, “On the deeds of Alexander the Great” by Quintus Curtius, “On the sacking of Troy” and other translations of ancient authors and works on ancient subjects; “Book of historiography” by Mauro Orbini on the history of the Middle Ages [ 96 . P. 159].
Most of these translations were handwritten; they appeared in printed form after 1725. Manuscript literature for a long time (and in the second half of the 18th century) continued to play a significant role, since paper and printing were expensive in Russia. This applies not only to translated, but also to original Russian literature. This is confirmed by handwritten collections in the collections of public libraries in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv [ 269 . pp. 362–372]. The number of translated works clearly exceeded the number of original Russian books.
Cultural layers Russian society sought to join the aesthetic life of European peoples. Translations were made by order of the government and on personal initiative (for example, Prince D. M. Golitsyn). This problem was deeply studied by the famous Russian scientist P. P. Pekarsky in his extensive work “Science and Literature in Russia under Peter the Great” [ 269 ]. Translations of philosophical works – S. Pufendorf’s “On the Laws of Nature and Nations”, G. Grotius’ “On the Laws of War and Peace” and others had a noticeable influence on the minds of the Peter the Great era.
Only from the mid-20s did handwritten translations begin to appear (weak, since there were no translation staff) - adaptations of French novels of the 17th century. Paul Talman's novel “A Trip to the Island of Love” was translated and published by V. K. Trediakovsky in 1731; it was the first printed translated novel in Russia. The ancient classics came out in print - Horace, Cornelius Nepos, Xenophon and others, as well as Montaigne, Fontenelle, and others. Cantemir translated a lot from Anacreon. Since the late 1720s, translations of works by ancient and modern European authors were published in Russian magazines “Notes to Vedomosti”, “Monthly Works” and others. But a huge number of translations remained in handwritten form.
The role of antiquity in the formation of Russian literature is great. Already Simeon of Polotsk was well acquainted with antiquity, speaking ancient Greek, Latin and other languages. S. Medvedev, K. Istomin, St. Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich, Kantemir, Lomonosov, V. Petrov, Trediakovsky and others, knowing many languages ​​perfectly, read ancient authors fluently and assimilated both ancient and modern Western literature. Many of them (Feofan Prokopovich, Trediakovsky, Lomonosov) themselves wrote poetry and scientific works in Latin. Poetry in Latin existed in Russia in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Translation activity was especially intense in the second half of the 18th century.
During the 18th century, Russian literature, thanks to the intensive activity of translators, received a huge replenishment, which gave numerous readers the opportunity to improve their education and get acquainted with the monuments of almost all philosophical, political, historical and artistic literature known to the European world of that time.

Oratory

In the era of Peter the Great, oratory was actively developing, continuing the traditions of ancient Russian oratory prose [ 153 . pp. 215–223]. The first sermons of secular content appeared, praising the deeds of Peter I (often by comparing him with Vladimir I, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and so on), and the poetics of panegyric sermons emerged. In the Petrine era, the oratorical activity of Stefan Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich and other preachers flourished.

Original stories

Along with the above, handwritten narrative literature, old in form, but new in content, continues to exist: everyday stories, translated novels, stories, works of ancient Russian literature are actively being remade. The first original stories of the era also begin to appear [see: 145 ] – a new type of Russian plot narration, its examples: “The story of the Russian sailor Vasily Kariotsky and the beautiful princess Irakli of the Florensky land”; “The story of the brave Russian gentleman Alexander and his lovers Tyra and Eleonora”; “The story of a certain nobleman’s son...”.
These works are a bright product of the Petrine era. Their typical hero is an humble young man (more often an impoverished nobleman). His fate is typical: he reaches high position in society thanks not to one’s origin, but to personal merit, “reason”, “sciences”; The form of these works is also typical, where the artistic traditions of Russian and translated literature were uniquely combined.
These original stories differ significantly from the narrative works of the second half of the 17th century: “Histories” are entirely secular works, their plot is fictional and develops along the line of revealing the character of the main character, whose fate is the result of his actions, and not the action of fate, as was the case in “ The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn” and “The Tale of Misfortune.”
The “sharp mind” Russian sailor Vasily Kariotsky overcomes all obstacles and becomes the king of Florence; Russian cavalier Alexander, respected for his personal bravery, dies during his return to Russia, having lost hope of atonement for his idle time.
What is new in these stories is the development of a love theme, which not only forms the plot, but also serves to reveal the character of the hero. Love is an important and serious feeling, not a fall or a sin, but a sublime and at the same time earthly passion that pushes the hero to exploits. It embraces the whole person: the sailor Vasily, seeing the princess, “fell from her beauty ( beauty – O.B.) to the ground". The secular principle manifested itself here, in contrast to the asceticism of the Middle Ages; the affirmation of earthly life, the revelation of the real power of man is the most important feature of Renaissance literature.
“Histories” reflected Renaissance trends; for example, they contain much of the knightly epic. The stories were influenced by translated literature: scientists found similarities between Boccaccio’s short stories and other translated works with the “Histories” [see. more details: 179. pp. 430–433]. The stories also reflected the educational ideas of Peter the Great's time. Heroes achieve success thanks to the “sharpness” of reason and knowledge, science. There are baroque elements in “Histories”: allegorism, excessive emotionality, mention of ancient gods (Mars, Cupid, Fortune, etc.). “Histories” contain songs – “arias”, which are typical examples of love lyrics of the early 18th century. The literary style of the stories is a fusion of heterogeneous poetic layers: here one can see the influence of Italian and French literature, whose works came to Russia through the mediation of Poland. But there is also the influence of the business prose of the Peter the Great era.
The genre captured the era well, managing to reflect it. “Histories” were very popular, they were rewritten, they existed for a long time. Original stories played a significant role in the development of prose of the 18th century, which was reflected in the works of F. Emin and M. Chulkov. Scientists believe that in these stories, for the first time, some features characteristic of the novel genre began to take shape [ 183; 179. P. 433]. Inheriting the traditions of the genre of “walkings” of Old Russian literature, the authors of travel notes of Peter the Great’s time (for example, I. Lukyanov, A. Ignatiev, P. Tolstoy, B. Kurakin, I. Naryshkin, A. Matveev and others) managed to create within the framework of the aesthetics of new literature interesting works of art [ 327; 328 ].

Poetry

In the era of Peter the Great, poetry developed rapidly, new genres appeared: love song, cant.
Kant (from Latin cantus - singing, song) - a type of verbal and musical non-professional art in Russia in the 18th century, arose as the original unity of text and chant: 1) spiritual chants and psalms; 2) secular book (non-folk) songs (love, drinking, satirical, etc.). The poetics and style of Kant are determined not by the folk poetic song tradition, but by the tradition of literary, book poetry. Unlike new literary poetry, cants had many variants, were widely used among the people in song form, and were also included in numerous songbooks of the 18th century. Most often, the cants were unnamed or the author's name was encrypted in an acrostic poem (the author's first and last name were read from top to bottom in the initial letters of each line). They were created in an urban environment. Secular cants stood out noticeably in the Petrine era. From the second half of the 18th century. cants are being forced out of songbooks by folk lyrical songs and are moving to the provincial environment.
To various solemn occasions in the life of the state and royal family laudatory poems are composed - panegyrics, glorifying this or that event. Peter I and his comrades (A.D. Menshikov, F.M. Apraksin, etc.) were especially often sung about; Feofan Prokopovich glorified the Poltava victory in his solemn song “Epinikion” (epinikion - “victory song”).
The Kants, with their allegorism and baroque symbolism, prepared the birth of the genre of laudatory ode - one of the most widespread genres in the poetry of classicism.
The syllabic (sometimes turning into a syllabic tonic) secular song, which originated in the 17th century and continued to develop in the first decades of the 18th century like a handwritten story, testifies to the “secularization” of the consciousness of a literate Russian person. The love theme occupies the main place in secular poetry. The song about the anxiety-filled and dangerous life of “sailors-seafarers” (“A storm is spreading the sea…”) was very popular. early version which appears in a handwritten songbook from 1724. This secular song lyrics developed primarily in the middle strata of the urban population, and although at times it lacked professional skill and unartificial sincerity of feeling, it still surpassed the learned versification that was cultivated by the teachers of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and other Orthodox theological schools [ 172. P. 362].

Theater

Especially great attention Peter I paid such a massive and spectacular view art, like theater. He invited foreign actors led by Kunst (a year later, in 1703, he died), and then Fürst. On Red Square in Moscow, the “Comedy Horomina” was organized - the first publicly accessible theater. Translated plays were staged in this “house,” often in foreign languages. The Kunst-Fürst Theater soon collapsed, having failed to fulfill the task of Peter I - to promote reforms.
This task was largely fulfilled by school drama. School drama presented mythological, biblical (most often), historical subjects - actions with an abundance of allegorical characters and allusions. Characteristic features of school drama: prologue, presentation of the plot (up to 5 acts), epilogue; maintaining the unity of time, place and action; combination of comic and sublime; syllabic verses; moralizing. The poetics of school drama was determined by its theorists J. Pontan and F. Lang. Having mastered the experience of ancient drama, the Renaissance theater, the school theater in terms of genre was a step higher than the Russian court theater of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich or the Kunst-Fürst theater, and cannot be reduced only to the definition of “school drama”.
School drama and school theater, along with the court theater, played a significant role in the development of theatrical life in the last third of the 17th and first third of the 18th centuries. The dramaturgy of Simeon of Polotsk precedes the birth of school drama. The students of the Kiev-Mohyla Theological Academy contribute to its development: having become ministers of the Russian church, they started school theaters in Rostov, Pskov, Tver, Irkutsk and many other cities at schools, seminaries, religious schools, specialized educational institutions (for example, at the Moscow Surgical Hospital - the Bidloo Hospital Theater). School dramas were most often written by teachers of poetry and rhetoric, and the actors and spectators were school students.
In the history of early Russian drama, a certain place is occupied by the theater organized at the hospital of Nikolai Bidloo, not only a doctor, but also an art connoisseur. The plays of this theater (“Russian Glory...”, “Sad Glory...”, etc.) have characteristic feature, distinguishing them from other school dramas: political-panegyric, secular character. The direction of this theater is no longer determined by the interests of the church, but by the interests of the state. Hence the characteristic desire for the plays of the Bidloo Theater for extreme clarity, obviousness for the audience of the political, topical meaning of the plays. The dramaturgy of the Bidloo Theater, contrary to the allegorism of school drama, prepared the formulation of socio-political, topical problems of the dramaturgy of classicism.

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LITERATUREXVIIICENTURIES

Lecture 1

DEVELOPMENT OF LITERATURE IN 1700 – 1730

(LITERATURE OF PETER'S ERA)

The first decades of the 18th century were the time of the formation of new art, the time of the creation of literature that was qualitatively different from the literature of the previous period. The most important sign of something new in literary creativity was the writers’ view of reality from a national point of view. The horizon of the author's vision is expanding. Literary heroes are taken outside the Russian state. The depiction of other countries is freed from the touch of fantasy. The idea is increasingly heard that a person is a member of society, that this imposes certain responsibilities on him: a person must bring real benefit to society, the state (this idea is heard in the second satire of A. Cantemir). An attempt has been made in the literature to reflect human psychology. If Russian literature of the 18th century as a whole can be called creative laboratory, who prepared artistic achievements XIX century, then the experimental principle was especially evident in the literature of the first decades of the 18th century, when there was no literary direction, literary life developed spontaneously, and writing had not yet become a large and internally organized part ideological struggle , has not yet become a profession. This period went down in history as the “era of Peter’s reforms.” Peter I did a lot to bring Russian culture closer to European culture. As noted by A.S. Pushkin “Russia entered Europe like a deflated ship with the sound of an ax and the thunder of cannons.” Peter I, in his transformations, in his reforms, gravitated toward the educational, humanistic West. This was inevitable historically. Russia, from a monarchy of the old type, from a state bound by outdated class prejudices, came to a powerful state of a different, European type, to an “enlightened” monarchy. In accordance with this, a completely new worldview was taking shape in Russia. There is an interest in science, and in connection with this, faith in the power of the human mind is gradually established. Reason becomes the measure of everything (this is how the ground is prepared for the emergence of classicism). And this criterion is gradually, imperceptibly pushing into the background many traditional religious ideas. The authority of the church is replaced by the authority of the state, which has subjugated church power. Serving the state becomes a criterion of a person’s value and moral qualities. Social benefit is gradually becoming the highest ethical standard. These new ideas that arose in the West, along with new concepts, are entering Russian everyday life: public benefit, public cause, citizen, patriot. The conviction arises that civil laws are not written by inspiration from above, but are created according to the laws of reason, determined by “natural law” and not by “divine providence.” The first textbooks are published (“Arithmetic” by Magnitsky, “Grammar” by Smotritsky), the first Russian printed newspaper “Vedomosti” begins to appear. Educational institutions are opening (Ernst Gluck Gymnasium, higher education institution - Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy). At the end of 1702, a certain Johann Kunst, a German from Danzig, on the initiative of Peter I himself, opened the first theater in Russia (the theater existed for only one year - Kunst died and the performances stopped), where all the roles were played by men. New standards of communication are being established. Guides appear on how to behave for youths and young men (“An Honest Mirror of Youth”), how to write gallant and business letters (“Examples of how to write different compliments”). These books should emphasize the desire to affirm human dignity. In 1724, the Academy of Sciences and Curious Arts was founded. With the opening of the Academy, the development of science in Russia was finally centralized and taken under the care of the state. Literature acquires a purely secular character. New customs, a new way of life required other words to be reflected in literature, a new literary language, new genres, new forms. New births occur literary works, previously unknown in Russia, in particular, love lyrics arise. Initially these poems were created according to folklore traditions . Book lyrics gradually emerge. The lyrical poetry of this time, weak in artistic terms, is extremely important in the historical and literary sense, for it opened up to the reader, opened up to Russian art a completely new, previously unknown area of ​​human life - the sphere of personal experiences. Literary creativity, however, had great “internal resistance” and was difficult to update. This is explained by the peculiarities of medieval poetics. Stylistic traditions that were very strong in ancient Russian literature lived for a long time in the literature of the 18th century 5 . In the first decades, genres characteristic of the 16th – 17th centuries also retained their importance. In the 17th century, the genre of the story was most widespread in Russian literature. It remains popular in the first decades of the new century. And here, in the usual genre, the old, both in content and in stylistic form, begins to come into conflict with the new, while at the same time continuing to generally coexist with the new. This phenomenon can be traced through the example of the most widespread stories of Peter the Great's time. This is, first of all, “The story of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky and the beautiful princess Irakli of the Florensky land.” The fashionable word “historia” or “history” is very often introduced into the title of such works. The anonymous authors of the stories wanted to emphasize the authenticity and typicality of the events depicted in these works, as well as, as it were, to distinguish them from the stories of the 17th century. This work develops a conflict that is already familiar from the stories of the 17th century. Before us is a clash of old and new ideas about the goals of life, about moral values, about the moral foundations of society, a clash of the ideologies of fathers and sons. But if in the stories of the 17th century such a clash usually acquired a very acute character and was depicted as an antagonistic conflict (Tales of Sava Grudtsyn, About Grief-Misfortune), then here there is no direct clash between Vasily and his father. Moreover, the father does not interfere with his son’s desire to “live by his own mind.” There is no enmity between father and son, and the hero, living in his own way, wins and reaches the highest rung of the social ladder. This is a fundamentally new solution to the conflict - quite in the spirit of the turbulent times of Peter the Great. The theme of love is posed and resolved in a new way. If in the stories of the 17th century love is a devilish feeling, the hero falls in love with his “husband’s wife”, sells his soul to the devil, then in the stories of Peter the Great’s era this is a noble feeling, the mutual love of the heroes, contributing to the achievement of the goal, it is the love conflict that drives the action of the story. In the stories of Peter the Great's era, Russian people are depicted as Europeans. He was given qualities alien to the old Russian story: independence, resourcefulness, gallantry - what was imperiously demanded new life, new reality. All these works were closer to folklore than to book literary tradition. They were not printed, but distributed in lists, varied, which brought them closer to folklore and contributed to the traditionalism and saturation of the works with commonplaces. One of the important features and most characteristic signs of literature of the 18th century was that already in the first decades literature ceased to be anonymous. From the history of nameless works, in the creation of which many unknown co-authors participated, it turns into the history of the work of individual writers, each of whom has his own clearly defined manner, worldview, and poetics. The first places in this row are occupied by Antioch Cantemir and Feofan Prokopovich.

Lecture 2

LITERARY DIRECTIONSXVIIICENTURIES

PRE-CLASSICISM AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY

The literature of the 18th century, unlike the literature of Ancient Rus', developed along literary directions. Characteristics In an established literary direction, as a rule, there are: clarity of the concept that determines the activities of writers, the presence of a well-known team of authors connected by common creative and worldview principles. Usually both of these features are developed in a manifesto-declaration, where the literary and public position representatives of this direction, their requirements for literary creativity. Thus, the manifesto of French classicism was the famous “ Poetic art"Bualo, Russian classicism - "The insistence of those who want to be writers" by Sumarokov and partly "Conversation with Anacreon" by Lomonosov, Russian sentimentalism - Karamzin's article "What does the author need?" and his letters. A literary movement is always based on a certain artistic method, on well-known creative principles. Not a single artistic method can manifest itself in the history of literature except through one or another literary movement. At the same time, the artistic method receives specific historical and social features inherent in a given direction, and, strictly speaking, each direction is the bearer of a very specific method. In other words, as many methods as there are literary trends. The literary direction offers a rather complex organization of the literary work, the presence of a fairly developed structure of social thought and a relatively high public assessment of the literary work, it requires a clear definition of the writer's personality, the writer's individuality in the overall creative process. The literary direction is also characterized by well-known stylistic features general, his inherent poetics, within which, of course, there are custom styles more or fewer individual authors. Thus, a balance is established between the creative personality and the literary community, moreover, between the society where the creative personality operates, and this creative personality as the bearer of innovation. A clear idea of ​​the generality of tasks that writers representing a given literary direction should have is formed only in the case when this literature is printed literature. Only printed text can reliably preserve the individual, original, unique features of the author’s personality. So, one of important conditions The emergence of literary trends is the development of printing and its secularization. Therefore, any medieval literature, being as a rule handwritten literature, is not able to develop any developed literary direction. IN best case scenario we can talk about the beginnings of certain directions, about certain schools. The literature of the beginning of the century is traditional, spontaneous, unconscious in the nature of the manifestation of certain creative patterns in it, just like the literature of the 17th century. It is also closely related to oral folk art. But at the beginning of the 18th century literary creativity faced with a radically changed reality. The enormous changes that took place in social life required fundamentally new ways of reflecting them in literature. Literature operating with traditional categories, constrained by the stability of images, the stability of poetics, could not provide such methods. AND literary phenomena, characteristic of the beginning of the century, can be combined under the common name Russian pre-classicism. The literature of pre-classicism at the beginning of the century has a number of new features that do not appear in the literature of the previous period, features that did not lead to the formation of a genuine literary movement, but taken together prepared the development of the first literary movement - classicism. What are these traits? First of all, this period is characterized by an interest in some new genres, only partially used in literature XVII century. This is the genre of lyric poems. This is also the case dramatic creativity, attempts to organize a theater not only with spiritual, but also with secular themes. These, finally, are the handwritten stories of the beginning of the century, which in many ways echo the stories of the 17th century, at the same time, as a rule, bear the characteristic name “historia” and are distinguished by the desire for a fundamentally new solution to the conflict between fathers and sons, to transfer the action to the European the basis and all sorts of emphases of modernity, the relevance of the depicted conflicts. For stories from the beginning of the century, everyday life is typical, a tendency to display all the details Everyday life of people. On the one hand, this was an unconscious protest against the church overtones of many works of medieval literature, on the other hand, it testified to how far the shift had gone in the worldview of the people of that time. The desire to reveal the inner world literary heroes- the second significant sign of Russian pre-classicism. Interest in inner world people is closely connected with increased attention to the role of the human personality, with a revaluation of the importance of individual human activity in social life. If in medieval literature predestination played a huge role in the development of the plot, fate and the conflict of works usually grew not due to the activity of the hero, but as a result of predetermined external, usually otherworldly forces, now more and more often the attention of authors is drawn to the activity human personality. In its rudimentary form, the literature of pre-classicism poses the problem of the relationship between the personal and the social, the problem of the role of the individual in the social process, in the social struggle. But this is still just a groping for the problem, the first timid attempts to pose the question. For example, in “Excerpts from a Novel in Verse” the question of women’s emancipation is raised for the first time. Interest in the individual leads to the formulation of the problem of civic duty, the civic responsibilities of a member of society. In the literature of this period, this issue is only emerging, finding some development in the work of Feofan Prokopovich. Close attention to the reality surrounding the author, to everyday life, to all manifestations of the new in Russian life, also led to a decrease in the influence of translated literature. Written literature, as it were, turned its face to “home” subjects, to the updated Russian reality, leaving its former repertoire at the disposal of oral literature. Stylistically, the literature of Russian pre-classicism is characterized by a tendency towards colorfulness and exotic situations. This is noticeable in both dramatic works, often rich in melodramatic episodes, both in stories, as well as in the upbeat, sometimes somewhat rich vocabulary of lyrical poems. Here we can talk about baroque trends. Russian preclassicism prepared the ground for Russian classicism.

ANTIOKH DMITRIEVICH KANTEMIR

Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir is the first Russian classicist writer, author of poetic satires. Cantemir was brought up in the spirit of sympathy for Peter's reforms and during the years of reaction that followed the death of Peter the Great, he boldly denounced the militant ignorance of high-born nobles and clergy. He wrote nine satires. The satirical activity of the writer clearly confirms the organic connection of Russian classicism with the needs of Russian society. Unlike all previous literature, Cantemir’s works are purely secular in nature. Cantemir's early satires were created in the era that followed the death of Peter, in an atmosphere of struggle between defenders and opponents of his reforms. One of the points of disagreement was the attitude towards science and secular education. In his work, Kantemir recognizes himself as a poet-citizen; as a writer-educator, he cannot stand aside, seeing the shortcomings and vices of society. The first satire “On those who blaspheme the teachings. To Your Mind,” written in 1729, was a work of great political resonance. It was directed against the ignorance of a certain social and political force, and not against an abstract vice, ignorance exposed by the authority of state and church authorities. This satire had a pronounced anti-clerical character and was directed against the party of churchmen Stefan Yavorsky and Grigory Dashkov, who sought to re-establish the patriarchate and the pre-Petrine order. Kantemir speaks out in defense of science and enlightenment, and although his reasoning was somewhat abstract in nature, nevertheless, they were caused by Russian reality and addressed to it. He believed that state progress and the correction of morals depended on the development of education. With sharp satirical features he paints portraits of opponents of enlightenment: Crito, Silvanus, Medor. These names are conventional, but the abstract images created by Cantemir bear the features of the satirist’s true contemporaries. They all blaspheme science, believing that it is obscene for a nobleman to engage in science, there is no benefit in it, why “work in something that suddenly doesn’t make your pocket fatter.” In their opinion, science is a hindrance: Crashing over a book and damaging your eyes? Isn't it better to walk your days and nights with a cup? The image of the bishop is critically depicted, the prototype of which, as Kantemir himself pointed out in the notes to this satire, was the head of the church reaction, Georgy Dashkov. Cantemir portrays the greed and ignorance of the churchmen and considers them dangerous enemies of enlightenment. With great expressiveness, he reveals the features of the bishop’s external appearance, which correspond to his inner essence: If you want to be a bishop, put on a cassock, and let him cover his body with pride in a striped robe; hang a chain of gold around your neck, cover your head with a hood, cover your belly with a beard, and order the stick to be carried before you in a magnificent manner; In the carriage, swollen, when the heart cracks with anger, bless everyone, right and left. I must be the archpastor of all you in these cognizant Signs, reverently call you father. The second satire “Filaret and Eugene” (On the envy and pride of the malevolent nobles) (1730) is also directed against the enemies of Peter’s reforms, against representatives of the family aristocracy, dissatisfied with the rise in modern times of humble but capable people. The satire is built in the form of a dialogue between supporters Peter’s “Table of Ranks” by Philaret (translated from Greek as virtuous) and the defender of boyar privileges Evgeniy (noble). Evgeniy is deeply offended that he was passed over for promotion and awards. He is especially outraged by his promotion of people of humble origin to command posts. Among them is A.D. Menshikov (who wore out his shoulders with a hearth pot...), who sold pies as a child. Eugene tries to assert his right to ranks and awards on the merits of his ancestors and the antiquity of his family, but the author shows that times have changed and Eugene’s claims look ridiculous and archaic. Filaret pays tribute to Eugene’s glorious ancestors, but believes that the merits of his fathers and grandfathers should not pave the way for their lazy and untalented descendants to high ranks and awards. Filaret lists a number of positions that Eugene could have filled - commander, judge, treasurer - but which he neglected due to his laziness and ignorance. The question of nobility is also posed in a new way. “It differs,” declares Filaret, “to be a descendant of noble ancestors, or to be noble.” In this satire, the idea of ​​the natural equality of people was first expressed, an idea characteristic of the Enlightenment. Kantemir notes that “both the serf and the master have the same blood flowing in their veins.” Cantemir's satires have not lost their interest to this day. They show the personality of Cantemir, a humane, intelligent, observant man, who in his satires reflected the morals of the people of his time. By force of negative example, he fought for enlightenment and for the future of Russia. Belinsky was right, who in 1845 wrote that “... occasionally opening the satirist Cantemir and reading some of his satires is true bliss.” 8 Cantemir was the first to introduce such terms as “idea”, “observations”, “matter” into scientific use. And as Belinsky wrote: “He was the first in Rus' to bring poetry to life, while Lomonosov himself only separated them for a long time.” 9

VASILY KIRILLOVICH TREDIAKOVSKY

Literary activity Tredaikovsky is represented by artistic and scientific works. As a theorist and experimental writer who opens new paths in Russian literature, Trediakovsky deserves the most serious attention. “His philological and grammatical research,” wrote A.S. Pushkin are very remarkable. He had a more extensive understanding of Russian versification than Lomonosov and Sumarokov... In general, the study of Trediakovsky is more useful than the study of our other old writers.” 1 0 In 1730, immediately upon returning from abroad, Trediakovsky published a novel by the French writer Paul Talman in his translation entitled “A Trip to the Island of Love.” This is a typical romance novel about experiences characters- Thyrsis and Amyntas. These experiences are presented in allegorical form. Each feeling of the characters corresponds to the conventional toponymy of the “Island of Love”: “cave of Cruelty”, “castle of Straight Luxuries”, “gate of Love”, etc. Along with the real ones, conventional characters such as “Pity”, “Sincerity”, “Eye-loving” are presented (Trediakovsky translated this word into Russian as coquetry). Trediakovsky’s book is interesting because on its last pages he placed his own poems written in French entitled "Poems for different cases" This is Trediakovsky’s pre-classical lyrics, which present purely personal, autobiographical themes. All the lyrics presented in the book are written in syllabic verse, but four years later Trediakovsky will decisively abandon syllabic verse and propose a new system of versification instead. Trediakovsky’s enormous merit to Russian poetry, not only contemporary to him, but also subsequent, was the reform of versification he carried out, the principles of which are set out in the treatise “A New and Brief Method for Composing Russian Poems” (1735). In this treatise, Trediakovsky pointed out the main drawback of syllabics - the vagueness of the manifestation of rhythm, as a result of which, as Trediakovsky wrote, “it is more decent ... to call prose, a certain number going" 1 1 syllabic poetry. He replaced the syllabic system of versification with a syllabic-tonic one, or, in his terminology, “tonic”, from the word “tone”, i.e. stress, stressed syllable. When creating a new type of versification, Trediakovsky sought to proceed from the peculiarities of the Russian language. The new system differed from the old rhythmic organization of verse. The rhythm is created by a regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, occasionally complicated by pyrrhic (a foot consisting of two unstressed syllables) and spondees (a foot of two stressed syllables). The unit of rhythm is the foot, i.e. combining one stressed syllable with one unstressed syllable. In the Russian language there are stressed and unstressed syllables, but there are no long and short ones. Therefore, the fundamental difference between Russian versification and ancient, according to Trediakovsky, is that length and brevity in Russian versification are tonic, i.e. “consisting in a single accent of voice.” Trediakovsky suggested writing only “long” poems - eleven- and thirteen-syllable poems. He called the first “Russian pentameter”, the second – “Russian hexameter”. In his treatise “On Ancient, Middle and New Russian Poems” (1755), Trediakovsky makes an attempt to outline the history of Russian poetry starting from ancient times. Trediakovsky divides the history of Russian poetry into three periods. He attributes the first to the times of paganism and, in the absence of “proper and worthy examples,” characterizes it purely hypothetically. The poets of that time, in his opinion, were worshippers, that is, pagan priests. The establishment of Christianity destroyed “idol worship” and “deprived us of almost six hundred years of venerable poetry.” 1 2 The second period falls on the 17th and early 18th centuries. It is represented by the poetic works of Simeon Polotsk, Sylvester Medvedev, Karion Istomin, Ivan Ilyinsky, Antioch Kntemir. The poetry of this time is syllabic. It lacks feet and rhythm, but has acquired rhyme. The third period was marked by the appearance of tonic versification, the discoverer of which was Trediakovsky himself. In 1766, Trediakovsky published a book entitled “Tilemachis or the Wanderings of Tilemachus, son of Odysseus, described as part of an ironic poem” - a free translation of the novel by the early French educator Fenelon “The Adventures of Telemachus”. Fenelon wrote his work in the last years of the reign of Louis XIV, when France suffered from devastating wars, which resulted in the decline of agriculture and crafts. The historical and literary significance of “Tilemakhida” lies not only in its critical content, but also in the difficult tasks that Trediakovsky set himself as a translator. In essence, this is not a translation, but a radical reworking of the book genre itself. Trediakovsky created on the basis French novel a heroic poem modeled on the Homeric epic and, in accordance with his task, he called the book not “The Adventures of Telemachus”, but “Tilemachis”. As noted in the preface, the plot of a heroic poem should not be related to ancient world, its heroes cannot be historically reliable persons of either ancient or modern times. A heroic poem should be written, according to Trediakovsky, only in hexameter. The choice of characters and the plot of “Tilemakhida” fully meets the theoretical requirements of the author. Trediakovsky carefully preserved the educational pathos of Fenelon's novel. The subject of condemnation becomes the supreme power, it speaks of the despotism of rulers, their addiction to luxury and bliss, the inability of kings to distinguish virtuous people from self-interested people and money-grubbers, and the flatterers who surround the throne and prevent monarchs from seeing the truth. Condemning both despotism and anarchy, the author comes to a purely educational thought about the need to publish laws in the state that are binding on both the monarch and his subjects: I asked him, what does royal sovereignty consist of? He answered: the king has power over the people in everything, but the laws have power over him in everything, of course. 1 3 “Tilemakhida” evoked different attitudes towards itself both among contemporaries and descendants. Novikov and Pushkin spoke of her with praise. Radishchev made one of her poems the epigraph to his “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” “His love for Fenelon’s epic,” wrote Pushkin, “does him honor, and the idea of ​​translating it into verse and the very choice of verse proves his extraordinary sense of grace.” 1 4 Catherine II took an irreconcilably hostile position. Her ill will was caused by critical remarks addressed to the autocrats. She introduced a comic rule in the palace: for light wine you had to drink a glass cold water and read a page from Tilemakhida, for a more serious one - learn six lines from it. In “Tilemakhide” Trediakovsky clearly demonstrated the variety of possibilities of the hexameter as an epic verse. Trediakovsky’s experience was later used by N.I. Gnedich when translating the Iliad and V.A. Zhukovsky at work on the Odyssey.