What refers to the genre of ancient Russian literature. Genres of ancient Russian literature. A genre is a historically established type of literary work, an abstract model, on the basis of which they are created. Handwritten nature of existence
Features of the development of ancient Russian literature.
Ancient literature is filled with deep patriotic content, heroic pathos of service to the Russian land, state, and homeland.
The main theme of ancient Russian literature is world history and the meaning of human life.
Ancient literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian man, who is capable of sacrificing the most precious thing for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses a deep belief in strength, the ultimate triumph of good, and the ability of man to elevate his spirit and conquer evil.
A characteristic feature of ancient Russian literature is historicism. The heroes are mostly historical figures. The literature strictly follows the fact.
A feature of the artistic creativity of the ancient Russian writer is the so-called "literary etiquette". This is a special literary and aesthetic regulation, the desire to subordinate the very image of the world to certain principles and rules, to establish once and for all what should be depicted and how.
Old Russian literature appears with the emergence of the state, writing, and is based on Christian book culture and developed forms of oral poetry. At this time, literature and folklore were closely connected. Literature often perceived plots, artistic images, visual means of folk art.
The originality of ancient Russian literature in the image of the hero depends on the style and genre of the work. In relation to styles and genres, the hero is reproduced in the monuments of ancient literature, ideals are formed and created.
In ancient Russian literature, a system of genres was defined, within which the development of original Russian literature began. The main thing in their definition was "use", "practical purpose", for which this or that work was intended.
The traditions of Old Russian literature are found in the work of Russian writers of the 18th-20th centuries.
main genres of ancient Russian literature
The first works of original ancient Russian literature that have come down to us date back to the middle of the 11th century. Their creation is due to the growth of the political, patriotic consciousness of the early feudal society, seeking to strengthen new forms of statehood, to assert the sovereignty of the Russian land. Substantiating the ideas of the political and religious independence of Russia, literature seeks to consolidate new forms of Christian ethics, the authority of secular and spiritual power, to show the inviolability, "eternity" of feudal relations, the norms of law and order.
The main genres of literature of this time are historical: tradition, legend, story - and religious and didactic: solemn words, teachings, lives, walks. Historical genres, relying in their development on the corresponding genres of folklore, develop specific book forms of narration "based on the epics of this time." The leading genre is the historical story, based on a reliable depiction of events. Depending on the nature of the events reflected in the stories, they can be "military", stories about princely crimes, etc. Each type of historical story acquires its own specific stylistic features. The central hero of historical stories and legends is the warrior prince, the defender of the country's borders, the builder of temples, the zealot of enlightenment, the righteous judge of his subjects.
His antipode is a seditious prince who violates the feudal legal order of subordinating the trade wind to his overlord, the eldest in the family, leading bloody internecine warriors, striving to gain power for himself by force. The story of the good and evil deeds of the princes is based on the testimonies of eyewitnesses, participants in the events, oral traditions that existed in the squad environment. Historical incursions and legends do not allow artistic fiction in the modern meaning of this word. The facts stated and them are documented, attached to the exact dates, correlated with other events. The historical genres of Old Russian literature, as a rule, do not exist separately, but as part of chronicles, where the principle of weather presentation made it impossible to include various material in it: a weather record, a legend, a story. These historical genres were devoted to the most important events related to military campaigns, the struggle against the external enemies of Russia, the construction activities of the prince, strife, unusual natural phenomena, heavenly signs. At the same time, the chronicle also included a church legend, elements of hagiography, and even entire hagiographies, legal documents.
One of the greatest historical and literary monuments of the second half of the 11th - early 12th centuries that has come down to us is The Tale of Bygone Years.
3. Old Russian literature of the 11th century (The Tale of Bygone Years, The Tale of Igor's Campaign, The Life of Theodosius of Pechora, The Tale of Peter and Fevronia)
"The Tale of Bygone Years" is an outstanding historical and literary monument, reflecting the formation of the ancient Russian state, its political and cultural heyday, as well as the beginning of the process of feudal fragmentation. Created in the first decades of the 12th century, the story has come down to us as part of the chronicles of a later time. "The Tale of Bygone Years" contains 2 main ideas: the idea of the independence of Russia and its equality with other countries (in the description of hostilities) and the idea of the unity of Russia, the Russian princely family, the need for a union of princes and the condemnation of strife ("Legend of calling the Varangians"). The work highlights several main themes: the theme of the unification of cities, the theme of the military history of Russia, 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 up into 2 parts: up to 850 - conditional chronology, and then - weather. There were also such articles where the year stood, but there was no record. This meant that nothing significant happened that year, and the chronicler did not consider it necessary to write it down. Under one year there could be several major narratives. The chronicle includes symbols: visions, miracles, signs, as well as messages, teachings. The first, dated 852, 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 annals is connected with the baptism of Russia in 988. The final articles tell about the reign of Svyatopolk Izyaslavich. Also, the compositional originality of 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 one year. The chronicle was a collection of primary genre formations. Here we find both a weather record, the simplest and most ancient form of narration, and an annalistic story, annalistic legends. The proximity of the chronicle to hagiographic literature is found in the stories about 2 Varangian martyrs, about the foundation of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery and its ascetics, about the transfer of the relics of Boris and Gleb, about the death of Theodosius of the Caves. Obituary articles were associated with the genre of grave words of praise in the annals, 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. Symbolic landscape sketches. Unusual natural phenomena are interpreted by the chronicler as "signs" - warnings from above about impending doom or glory. In the depths of The Tale of Bygone Years, a military tale begins to take shape. Elements of this genre are already present in the story of Yaroslav's revenge on Svyatopolk the Accursed. The chronicler describes the gathering of troops and the campaign, preparations for battle, the "slash of evil" and the flight of Svyatopolk. Also, the features of the military story can be traced in "The Tale of the Capture of Tsaryrad by Oleg", in the story "About the Battle of Yaroslav with Mstislav".
Characteristics of the genre of life. The originality of the "Life of Theodosius of the Caves" as a literary monument.
Life is a genre that tells about the life of a real historical person, 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 the Christian commandments. In the first lives, many miracles repeated the miracles of Christ. They were artless in form, but their complication is gradually going on. Signs of life: idealization (ideal saints, ideal evil); according to the composition - strict adherence to the canons (introduction - many topoi, self-abasement of the author, turning 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 the saint); the narrator is always an educated and well-read person, distancing himself from the hero, giving information about himself, clearly expressing his position in relation to the hero with the help of biblical quotations; the language is Church Slavonic and lively colloquial, extensive use of tropes and biblical quotations. "The Life of Theodosius of the Caves" was written by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor. Following the genre canon, the author saturates the life with traditional images and motifs. In the introduction, he self-deprecates, in the stories about his childhood Theodosius speaks of his spirituality, speaks of posthumous miracles. But Nestor violates one of the main genre rules - to portray -> the saint outside the specific signs of time and people. The author seeks to convey the color 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 grew rich, interfered in the struggle of the princes for the Kyiv table, and contributed to the development of book business in Russia. The main part of the life sometimes resembles the "hagiographic chronicle" of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, because. includes stories about spiritual mentors, associates and disciples of Theodosius. In addition to the monastic life of Theodosius, his participation in the political life of Russia is shown, which also increases the value of the "Life" as a literary monument.
"Life" laid the foundation for the development in Russian literature of the genre of venerable life.
The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom.
It was created in the middle of the 16th century (but for a long time it was attributed to the 15th century) by the priest and publicist Yermolai-Erasmus. In theory, this work was created as a life. But he was not recognized as a life because of the numerous deviations from the canon in the central part, and in the process of processing it became a story. The basis of its plot was formed on the basis of 2 oral-poetic, fairy-tale motifs - about the hero-serpent fighter and the wise maiden, which are 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 Yermolai-Erasmus, and he created a work that was not connected with the canons of the hagiographic genre: this is a fascinating plot narrative that bears little resemblance to the lives of the saints with their exploits and martyrdom for the glory of the church. "The work consists of 4 parts, plot-related. 1-story about a snake fighter. 2-heroes go for a doctor for a victim of a snake. They meet a girl who speaks in riddles. This is followed by a motif of riddles and trials. 3-life of Peter and Fevronia is married, elements of folklore narration are found.4-story about the death of Peter and Fevronia and the posthumous miracle.The problem of the genre lies in the fact that many elements of various genres are combined in the work.The work does not say anything about the childhood of the heroes (untraditional for life) , folklore motifs can be traced in all parts.For example, a fairy tale story about a hero-zmeborets, a motif of riddles, when Fevronia says that "it is not absurd to be a house without ears and a temple without ochsho" (dog-ears at home, child-eyes at home) and to the question where her family answers: "Father and mother borrow posters. My brother goes through the legs in the navi vision," which means "mother and father went to the funeral, and the brother was a beekeeper." There is also a folklore motif in 3 -e th 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 the leftovers turned into swans and a lake. And the departure of Peter and Fevronia from Murom, and then the request of the nobles for their return, also has an echo in the folk tale. But in the work there is also a spiritual side, characteristic of the lives. 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 a posthumous miracle, when Peter and Fevronia, contrary to their dying instructions, are buried in different places, but they still end up together in a coffin for two during the night, which remained empty. And their death in one hour is also something unusual, which can only be characteristic of saints. The combination of folklore, life and elements of the story in one work makes the work multifaceted, but this is a special skill of the author and innovation in literature.
Old Russian literature of the 17th century (The Life of Archpriest Avvakum, The Tale of Frol Skobeev,
Life of Archpriest Avvakum-Monument of the 17th century. Written in the transitional period - from Old Russian to new literature. Life reflects this. The archpriest did not perceive himself as a writer. He was forced to turn to the pen, as he was deprived of the possibility of oral communication with people. Lots of letters.
"The Life of Archpriest Avvakum, written by himself" - 1670. The name refers to the hagiographic tradition, but then the tradition collapses. I couldn't write my own life. Not only was he never canonized, but he was even excommunicated as the head of schismatics who did not accept the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the middle of the 17th century. Old Believer Movement.
Nikon reforms: two-finger was replaced with three-finger. Earthly bows - waist. And that the icons were rewritten according to the Greek model. The reforms concerned only the external rite, but for the believer, all the elements of the rite have great internal significance.
The archpriest was imprisoned in an earthen pit and burned at the stake. Nothing broke him - faith remained. In an earthen prison, he wrote his life.
It meets many requirements literary etiquette of the genre of life:
introduction (unworthy me, etc.)
the narrative part
· final part
· Habakkuk often quotes scriptures.
But all the elements take on a different quality: in the introduction, he talks about his principles as a scribe (aesthetic views). “I will write in my native language,” that is, as he says, without specially embellishing, although hagiographic works were always written solemnly. The parents are not depicted canonically: the father is a drunkard, the mother is pious, she became a nun.
When Avvakum is distracted from the story about himself and moves on to thinking about a person, his fate, he speaks in a high style, resorting to symbolic images. For example, the ship is a symbol of Avvakum's life, in which there were both happiness and sorrow.
There are also miracles in life, but they can also have an everyday explanation. For example, when he is in prison, someone brought him food. He does not understand whether it is an angel or a man. Pashkov almost killed his son - the squeaker misfired three times.
The idea of time changes, the perspective of time appears: it feels differently, depicts time. In hagiographic works, the author is removed from the life of the hero himself - he is abstracted. Avvakum has an egocentric time, the starting point of the depicted events is himself. Therefore, the sequence of events may be disturbed. For example, in the finale, he recalls how he cast out demons. The author and the hero merged into one person.
The space is very vast: Moscow, Tobolsk, Siberia, Baikal.
Many actors: Pashkov, archbishop, tsar, wife, Fedor the holy fool...
All this makes it possible to call this work the first Russian novel.
But not all researchers think so, since there is no fictional hero, the separation of the author from the hero, there is no artistic world.
It combines sublime poetry and worldly prose.
1. The basis of life is a tale (“blathering”), i.e. colloquial element with a bright emotional coloring.
2. The tale is combined with elements of the biblical book style.
3. Solemn rhetorical layer of style, especially in closing lectures.
Reception of contrast in the image: Peshkov as a beast. Habakkuk is in humility.
There are many unions "a" in the syntax, which shows the diversity of life.
Key Ideas:
The Lord opposes the proud, gives grace to the humble.
The struggle between good and evil.
Avvakum laid the foundation for a whole series of biographies.
The Tale of Frol Skobeev
THE STORY ABOUT FROL SKOBEEV, the first Russian picaresque story of the 17th century. The exact date of writing has not been established. Based on various data, the time period when it could appear extends from 1680 (the adventures of the hero are attributed to this year in some lists) to the 20s of the 18th century. (judging by the peculiarities of vocabulary and realities); by the 18th century include all 9 known lists of the work. The story was discovered in the collection of M.P. Pogodin in 1853 and then published in the magazine Moskvityanin.
Small in volume, not rich in events, lively and dynamically written story - a kind of apology for cunning, resourcefulness and roguery. Its hero, a resident of the Novgorod district of the "great yabida" Frol Skobeev, earns an attorney's craft, i.e. clerk, decides at all costs to "have love" with Annushka, the daughter of the stolnik Nardin-Nashchokin. To begin with, he meets a certain clerk, in whose house he runs into Annushka's mother. Skobeev gives her two rubles without asking for anything in return. When Annushka invites noble daughters to visit Christmas time through her mother, the unrecognized Frol arrives, dressed in a woman's dress. Having ambushed his mother, he gives her five rubles and reveals who he is, asking to set him up with Annushka, which mother does. They are left in the bedroom, where the deceiver revealed himself to Annushka and, despite her fear, "growth her virginity." When the stolnik called his daughter to Moscow, Frol goes to fetch her. In Moscow, having begged a carriage from a friend of the stolnik Lovchikov and drunk the coachman to unconsciousness, he changes into coachman's clothes and takes the girl away. Annushka and Frol are getting married. The saddened steward informs the sovereign about the disappearance of his daughter. By royal command, the kidnapper must show up, otherwise, if found, he will be executed.
When the stewards come to Ivanovskaya Square in the Kremlin after the liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral, Frol falls at the feet of Nardin-Nashchokin. Together with Lovchikov, he dissuades Annushka's father from complaining to the sovereign. Some time later, Nardin-Nashchokin sends a man to see how his daughter lives. The cunning Frol forces Annushka to go to bed and, through a messenger, tells her father that her daughter is ill and asks for parental forgiveness before she dies. Frightened parents send their daughter an image, one butt of which is worth 500 rubles. Having forgiven their daughter, the parents visit her in a new house and invite Annushka and Frol to their place, ordering the servants not to let anyone in, announcing to everyone: the steward "is eating with his son-in-law, with the thief and rogue Frolka." To maintain family life, the stolnik gives Frol an estate in the Simbirsk district, consisting of 300 households. Over time, the resourceful Frol becomes the heir to all the property of the stolnik, favorably marries his sister, and the mother who helped him is kept in great mercy and honor until her death.
You can see quite real facts in the story: the names of the characters are found in documents dating back to the 17th century, and the boyar A.L. Ordin-Nashchokin, who headed the Ambassadorial order, could well have been the prototype of the steward. But this work attracts, first of all, with its artistic merits. Here, unlike other Old Russian stories, the author's speech does not merge with the speech of the characters, which, although not individualized, is close to colloquial speech, rich in lively intonations. There is no instructive element in the story, so characteristic of the stories of the 17th century. (another argument in favor of dating it to the 18th century). Small details specially highlighted by the author are interesting and unusual. The most important events, as in other works of medieval prose, occur at particularly significant moments (Christmas time), in especially significant places (in the church, after the liturgy), but these events themselves are such that the connection with other works of the genre is more like continuity, but a parody.
Before the reader is a picaresque short story, which over time will degenerate into the genre of a Christmas story, and its hero is a typical rogue, a rogue, distinguished not by wealth, but by resourcefulness and personal connections. It is not for nothing that it is emphasized that Frol Skobeev is familiar to all the stolniks who have gathered on Ivanovskaya Square. The unknown author of the work openly sympathizes with the hero, and the fact that he is well aware of the command terminology makes it possible to look at the hero presented by him as a self-portrait.
Similar information.
The system of genres of ancient Russian literature (XI- XVIcenturies)
The main part of the genres was borrowed by Russian literature in the X-XIII centuries. from Byzantine literature: in translations and works transferred to Russia from Bulgaria. In this system of genres transferred to Russia, there were mainly church genres, that is, genres of works necessary for worship and for the administration of church life - monastic and parish. Various manuals of worship, prayers and lives of saints of various types should be noted here; works intended for pious individual reading, etc. But, in addition, there were works of a more “secular” nature: various kinds of natural science works (six-day books, bestiaries, alphabet books), works on world history (on Old Testament and Roman-Byzantine) , writings of the "Hellenistic novel" type ("Alexandria").
The variety of borrowed genres is amazing, but they all continued their lives here in different ways. There were genres that existed only together with transferred works and did not develop independently. There were others who continued their active existence. Within their framework, new works were created: the lives of Russian saints, sermons, teachings, less often prayers and other liturgical texts.
In order to understand the genre system of ancient Russian literature (very heterogeneous, by the way), it is necessary, first of all, to identify the main criteria by which the genre stood out.
ü The division into genres is due to non-literary factors, that is, a) their application; b) the subject to which the work is dedicated;
ü Genres are divided into ecclesiastical and secular and are subject to a hierarchy:
Church genres
1. Texts of "Holy Scripture"
2. Hymnography, that is, church hymns. This example clearly shows one of the features of the system of genres of Ancient Russia: non-literary criteria are defining for the genre. For example, some types of church hymns differed not in form and content, but in what church service and in what part of it they were performed. Other types - according to the way they were performed (trinary tones, performed three times in the morning after the Six Psalms and Litany, antiphons, sung alternately on two kliros). Some types of church hymns were named according to how it was supposed to behave when they were performed. Such are the sedals (when singing they began to sit down), katavasia (the last verse, for which the singers converged in the middle of the church). In ancient Russia, there were different types of the Apostle, depending on his use in church life, there were different types of Psalter, also arising from the needs of the church way of life.
3. Sermon: this category includes "words" associated with the interpretation of "scripture", explanations of the meaning of the holidays. Such "words" were usually combined into collections - "celebrators", triods of color and Lenten.
4. Hagiography: lives - stories about the exploits of saints. Lives were combined into collections: Prologues (Sinaxari), Cheti-Minei, Pateriki. Each type of hero: martyr, confessor, reverend, stylite, holy fool - had its own type of life. The composition of the life depended on its use: liturgical practice dictated certain conditions to its compiler, addressing the life to readers and listeners. From the point of view of the setting in which the life is read, there are prologue and menaine lives.
Based on Byzantine examples, ancient Russian writers created a number of outstanding works of hagiographic original literature, reflecting the essential aspects of the life and life of Ancient Russia. Unlike Byzantine hagiography, Old Russian literature creates an original genre of princely life, which aimed to strengthen the political authority of princely power, to surround it with an aura of holiness. A distinctive feature of the prince's life is "historicism", a close connection with chronicle legends, military stories, i.e., genres of secular literature. Just like the princely life, on the verge of transition from ecclesiastical to secular genres are "walks" - travel, descriptions of pilgrimages to "holy places", legends about icons.
secular genres
The system of secular genres was developed by ancient Russian writers through extensive interaction with the genres of oral folk art, business writing, and church literature.
1. Chronicles: the emergence of the chronicle genre requires additional research. Some chronicles arose in connection with the reign of one or another prince, others in connection with the establishment of a bishopric or archbishopric, still others in connection with the annexation of a principality or region, fourth in connection with the construction of cathedral churches, etc., which suggests that the annalistic code, telling about the past, fixed some important stage of the present. The idea that the Russian chronicles arose as an imitation of the Byzantine chronicles does not find confirmation: the Byzantine models were used far from the initial stage (by the way, most Russian chronicles are structured differently: if the chronicles record the sequence of reigns, then the chronicles record the sequence of events. The oldest chronicle that has come down to us vault - PVL (circa 1113) (preserved in the Lavrentiev, Ipatiev, Radzivilov and other chronicles. In addition to brief weather records, the PVL includes the texts of documents, and retellings of folklore legends, and plot stories, and excerpts from monuments of translated literature , there is also a theological treatise (“The Philosopher’s Speech”), and a hagiographic story about Boris and Gleb, etc. In a word, a complex genre nature: the chronicle is one of the “unifying genres”, subordinating the genres of its components. the composition of the chronicles included a historical story dedicated to outstanding events related to the struggle against the external enemies of Russia, evil to princely strife. The story is accompanied by a historical legend, a legend. The basis of the legend is any plot-completed episode, the basis of the legend is an oral legend.
2. Walking (although they are sometimes considered on the border of church and secular genres);
3. Didactic literature: the only, it seems, example of a political and moral instruction, created not by a clergyman, but by a statesman, is the Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh.
IV Genres were lined up in a hierarchy not only in terms of significance (based on the role assigned to them in worship), but also according to the principle: “primary” and “unifying”. Works that collected several representatives of different genres used to be simply called “collections”, but a significant part of these “collections” are so stable in composition that they should be considered as a separate, complex genre. Such are patericons, menaions, chronographs, prologues, ceremonials, flower beds, etc. Moreover, each type of collection has several varieties. Likhachev insists that all these collections and their derivatives be considered as separate genres. The situation changed only in the 16th-17th centuries, when the works included in the collection began to be rewritten separately.
ü The specificity of the genre system (as well as literature in general) of this period lies in the fact that until the 17th century literature did not allow fiction, the world was thought of as a given, and therefore the desire to subordinate the very image of the world to certain principles and rules is understandable, to determine once and for all what and as should be portrayed. Old Russian literature, like other medieval Christian literature, is subject to a special literary and aesthetic regulation - the so-called literary etiquette. Likhachev notes, in particular, that literary etiquette “is made up of: 1) ideas about how this or that course of events should have taken place; 2) from ideas about how the actor should have behaved in accordance with his position; 3) from ideas about what words the writer should describe what is happening. Before us, therefore, is the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior and the etiquette of words. The presence of etiquette can be easily traced by comparing two examples of the same genre: In the life of a saint, according to the requirements of etiquette, it was supposed to tell about the childhood of the future saint, about his pious parents, about how he was drawn to the church from infancy, shunned games with peers, etc. This plot component was necessarily present in the life, and it was expressed in different lives with the same words: thus, there was not only the etiquette of the situation (what to write about), but also the etiquette of expression (how exactly to describe the etiquette situation). Turning to the annals, we will find a similar picture there: the textual descriptions of the battles coincide, the princely characteristics-obituaries or characteristics of church hierarchs consist of the same components.
ü Genre is such an important category that it determines both the image of the author and the style of narration. It was generally difficult with authorship: all works were either anonymous (half of all texts), or pseudo-anonymous (that is, authorship was attributed to a famous person), or there was conditional authorship (when someone wrote the text, but who cares). In any case, the personality of the author did not add anything, since God was the global author, and everything else could not withstand the onslaught of etiquette.
ü Breaking traditional forms was common. All more or less outstanding works of the DRL often break out of the traditional forms. PVL does not fit into the Byzantine or Bulgarian genre framework. The same with Vladimir Monomakh's Teaching, The Tale of Igor's Campaign, The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land, and Daniil Zatochnik's Lay. The development of ancient Russian literature of the XI-XVII centuries. goes through the gradual destruction of a stable system of church genres, their transformation. The genres of secular literature are being fictionalized. They increase interest in the inner world of a person, the psychological motivation of his actions, there is amusement, everyday descriptions. Historical heroes are being replaced by fictional ones. In the 17th century this leads to fundamental changes in the internal structure and style of historical genres and contributes to the birth of new purely fictional works. Virsh poetry, court and school drama, democratic satire, everyday tales, and picaresque short stories emerge.
ü It is also important to note that interaction with folklore genres plays a significant role.
ü And finally: Likhachev offers such a scheme for the evolution of styles: in the XI-XII centuries. the leading style is medieval monumental historicism and at the same time there is a folk epic style, in the XIV-XV centuries. the style of medieval monumental historicism replaces the emotionally expressive, and in the XVI - the style of idealizing biographism, or the second monumentalism. However, the picture of the development of styles drawn somewhat schematizes a more complex process of the development of literature.
What is the period of existence of the ancient Russian literature and what is its periodization?
Chronological boundaries:
In the 11th century, one of the pr-th was recorded - "The Word of Law and Grace." The Old Russian literature ends in the middle of the 17th century, when the features of the Old Russian literature begin to disappear and a fictional character appears, behaving far from ideally. Transitional period - 1/3 of the 18th century - the end of the 18th century.
Periodization:
1. Kyiv (11-12th century). Metropolitan Hilarion's "Sermon on Law and Grace" was considered the first. 1st chronicler - Nestor. He compiled The Tale of Bygone Years, The Life of Boris and Gleb. The genre of the story develops.
2. Literature of the period of feudal fragmentation (12-13 century). During this period, translation literature developed. The "Lay of Igor's Campaign" is being created.
3. Literature of the period of the struggle against the Tatar-Mongols and the centralization of the state (13-16 centuries). "Zadonshchina" appears. The genre of walking is developing. "Afanasy Nikitin's Journey Beyond the Three Seas". Publishing is developing. In the 16th century, the "Tale of Peter and Fevronia" was created, and everyday stories were developed.
4. 17th century - Time of Troubles. The struggle of power, the split of the church. The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn appears.
Features of the ancient Russian l-ry. What is its religious nature?
All religious literature
All literature handwritten
Anonymity (a feature of folklore) (the authors very often signed with the names of famous Byzantine chroniclers). Books were translated from Greek and Bulgarian.
There was no concept of copyright
Literature was considered everything: stories, essays on astrology, the creation of recipes.
Lack of invention. Lit-ra was historical in nature. In the works there were real-life princes, monks, priests.
It is built on biblical and evangelical principles.
It had a class character (the literature of the boyars and the literature of the clergy).
Didacticism - the writer must educate, express the truth.
The religious character is reflected in:
1. Feature thin. The writer's work is "literary etiquette". The desire to subordinate the image of the world to special rules.
2. L-ra is based on Christian book culture and developed forms of folklore, from which images and plots were adopted.
What is the system of genres of ancient Russian literature? Describe the main genres.
Drrus. Lit-ra was formed under the influence of Byzantine literature and borrowed from it a system of genres. Genres of Old Russian. liters are usually divided into primary and unifying.
primary genres.- served as construction materials for unifying genres. Primary genres: life, word, teaching, story.
life . This is the most common and favorite genre of DRL. Life was an indispensable attribute when a person was canonized, i.e. were considered saints. Life is always created after the death of a person. It is vol. educate. function. + life deprived a person of the fear of death, preaching the idea of human immortality. souls. Life was built according to certain canons. Canons of Life: 1) The pious origin of the hero of the life, whose parents are obligated. should have been righteous. The saint was born a saint, and do not become one; 2) The saint was distinguished by an ascetic way of life, spent time in solitude and prayer; 3) Description of the miracles that occurred during the life of the saint and after his death; 4) The saint was not afraid of death; 5) The life of the glorifying saint was ending ( Life of the Holy Princes Boris and Gleb).
Old Russian eloquence - In ancient Russian literature, eloquence appeared in three varieties: Didactic (instructive); political; Solemn.
teaching- this is a genre in which Old Russian. chroniclers tried to present a model of behavior for any Old Russian. person: both for the prince and for the commoner. The most striking example of this genre is included in the Tale of Time. years "" Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh ".
Word. An example of the political variety of ancient Russian eloquence is "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land". The author glorifies the bright past and mourns the present. exemplary celebrations. varieties Old Russian. eloquence is Metropolitan Hilarion's Sermon on Law and Grace, which was created in the first third of the 11th century. The main idea of the "Word about Law and Grace" is that Russia is as good as Byzantium.
Tale. A story is an epic text. har-ra, stories about princes, about military exploits, about princely crimes. Examples are "The Tale of the Battle on the Kalka River", "The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Khan Batu".
Uniting genres The primary genres acted as part of the unifying genres, such as the chronicle, the chronograph, the cheti-menei, and the patericon.
chronicle - this is a story about historical events. This is the most ancient. genre of old Russian. liters. In Ancient Russia, the chronicle reported on the historical events of the past, but it was also political. and legal document-m. Ancient chronicle is "The Tale of Bygone Years". The chronicle is a story about the origins of Russians, about the genealogy of the Kyiv princes and about the emergence of Old Russians. state-va.
Chronograph - these are texts containing a description of the time of the 15th-16th centuries.
Chet's Menaion (literally “reading by months”) - a collection of works about holy people.
patericon - a description of the life of the holy fathers.
Apocrypha - from ancient Greek. language as "hidden, secret". This product is religiously legendary. character. Apocrypha received a special distribution in the 13th-14th centuries, but the church did not recognize this genre and does not recognize it to this day.
Walking, walking - a genre of medieval Russian literature, a form of travel notes, in which Russian travelogues described their impressions of visiting foreign countries. lands. In the early period of beings-I walking in the first Pts. were written by pilgrims who visited. holy places - for example, in Palestine or Constantinople ("Walk of Abbot Daniel"). Later, by the 15th century, the genre loses its religious character. shade; in particular, among the late walks stands out "Journey beyond three seas" Athanasius Nikitin, who described the impressions of a trip to the east for trading purposes. Journey beyond the three seas is the most famous and perfect example of the genre. "Walking of the Virgin through the torments" - quite popular in ancient Slavs. letters of the apocrypha, which is a translation and partly an alteration of the Greek "Revelation of the Most Holy Theotokos." Its theme is a description of the torments of sinners in hell.
In ancient Russia, the church played an important role in the literary process. Along with secular literature, ecclesiastical literature was also widely developed. Medieval literature in Russia existed only within the framework of the manuscript tradition. Even the advent of the printing press did little to change the situation until the middle of the 18th century. The material for writing was parchment, calfskin of special manufacture. Paper finally replaces parchment only in the 15th-16th centuries. They wrote in ink and cinnabar and until the 19th century. used goose feathers. The high cost of the material is due to the economy of writing: the text was submitted in one line without a syllable section, words that were often encountered were abbreviated under the so-called titles. Handwriting XI-XIII Art. in science it is called the charter because of its clear, solemn nature. A type of ancient Russian book is a voluminous manuscript, composed of notebooks sewn in wooden weaving, covered with embossed leather. Already in the XI century. Luxurious books with cinnabar letters and artistic miniatures appear in Russia. Their weaving was bound with gold or silver, decorated with pearls, precious stones (Ostromir Gospel (XI century) and Mstislav Gospel (XII century) 1 .
The basis of the literary language was the living spoken language of Ancient Russia, more precisely, its regional dialects, southern and northern (Dnieper and Novgorod the Great). At the same time, in the process of its formation, an important role was played by the language close to him, Old Church Slavonic, Church Slavonic. It was on it that the Moravian brothers Cyril and Methodius were translated in the second half of the 9th century. books of Holy Scripture. On its basis, church writing developed in Russia, worship was conducted. Being one of the dialects of the Old Bulgarian language, Church Slavonic had a large set of abstract concepts that settled in the Old Russian language so firmly that they became its inalienable property: space, eternity, mind, truth.
All ancient Russian literature is divided into two parts: translated and original. Translation was considered as part of their own national literature. The ecclesiastical nature of ancient Russian literature is due to the choice of translated works that existed in the manuscript tradition and the approach of the authors, which can be traced even in the description of history, in everyday stories and in other seemingly secular subjects. The initial stage of the translated Old Slavic writing was determined, along with the Holy Scriptures, by the achievements of the early Christian parents of the church of the IV-VI centuries: John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nisky, Cyril of Jerusalem.
Achievements of popular literature were also translated - the Chronicle of John Malali, "Christian topography" by Kosmi Indikoplova, apocrypha, patericons. The Psalter was the most popular.
The first original works written by East Slavic authors date back to the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th centuries. Among them are such outstanding monuments as "The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Tale of Boris and Gleb", "The Life of Theodosius of the Caves", "The Word of Law and Grace".
Genre diversity of ancient Russian literature XI-XII centuries. small: chronicle, life and word.
In literary criticism, a genre is usually called a type of achievement that develops gradually and develops over time. Due to the fact that medieval achievements, as a rule, pursued utilitarian wholes, the functional ones are always added to the formal and meaningful features, which becomes the main one for them. The distribution of the achievements of ancient Russian literature into genres is rather conditional. This is because the East Slavic scribes themselves did not have a common understanding of genre categories. Thus, the writers called both the solemn language of Metropolitan Hilarion and the military story with the most general term "word".
Among the genres of ancient Russian literature, the central place is occupied by chronicle, which developed over eight centuries (XI-XVIII centuries). Not a single European tradition had such a number of annals as the Old Russian one. Mostly, though not always, chronicle writing in Russia was done by monks who had undergone special training. Compiled chronicles on behalf of the prince, hegumen or bishop, sometimes on personal initiative. If the chronicle was kept on a direct order, it was more or less officious in nature, reflecting the political position, likes and dislikes of the customer. But one should not exaggerate the semi-official nature of ancient Russian chronicle writing, as historical science sometimes does. In reality, the chroniclers showed independence of thought, repelling the point of view of the broad masses on this or that event, they often criticized the actions of the princes, reflecting "everything good and bad" and "not decorating the writer."
The oldest chronicle is called "The Tale of Bygone Years" (1068). In the original, it has a longer title: "This is the story of a temporary year, where did the Russian land come from, who first began to reign in Kyiv, and from where did the Russian land permanently exist." This chronicle came to us in handwritten copies no older than the 14th century. Of these, two are the most remarkable: collections of 1377, conditionally called the Lavrentian Chronicle by the name of the scribe-monk Lavrenty, who copied it for the Suzdal Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich, and the collection of the beginning of the 15th century, which was called the Ipatiev Chronicle after the place of preservation - the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma.
The main difference between the two lists of the Tale is in its ending. The Laurentian Chronicle ends with a story cut short in mid-sentence about the miraculous phenomenon on February 11, 1110 of a pillar of fire over the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. In the Ipatiev list, this story is finished and several more legends about 1111, 1112 and 1113 follow. The authorship of the Tale is attributed to the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Nestor, who created it around 1113.
The main idea of the achievement is deeply patriotic - the unity of the Russian land. Princely civil strife and bloody strife, which began then in the Old Russian land, are condemned by the chronicler. Thus, Kyiv became the place of origin of the first all-Russian chronicle, which tells about the history of the Russian land as a whole.
Another common genre of ancient Russian literature is " life" - literally corresponds to the Greek "life". He presents the biographies of famous bishops, patriarchs, monks - the founders of monasteries, less often biographies of secular persons, but only those who were considered saints by the church. Hence, life in science is often also called the term "hagiography" (writing about saints). Compilation of lives required compliance with the rules and style of presentation. These included a leisurely story in the third person, the compositional observance of three parts: introduction, actual life and conclusions. The main protagonist was portrayed as undeniably holy, and the negative hero was introduced for contrast and acted in the background. According to the retelling, Nestor the chronicler is the author of all the first three lives that have come down to us - the two lives of the first Christian martyrs, the princes-brothers Boris and Gleb, and the life of Abbot Theodosius, the founder of the Kyiv Lavra.
Languages that were called teachings and words in the past belong to the genre eloquence, the "golden century" of development of which in Russia falls on the XII century, but already in the XIII century. it falls into decline and completely disappears from literary life in the XIV century.
A vivid example of this genre is the Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh, which came to us in the Laurentian copy of The Tale of Bygone Years in 1096. for them quotations from the Holy Scriptures. However, very soon this theme, which moralizes, given by church tradition, develops into a political testament, into a lesson for sons how to reign, to lead the state. There is an autobiography of the prince at the end of the Teaching.
Solemn eloquence is an area of creativity that required not only the depth of the ideological concept, but also great literary skill. The oldest monument of this genre that has come down to us is the "Sermon on Law and Grace", the authorship of which is attributed to the first Metropolitan of Kyiv Hilarion and dated between 1037 and 1050.
Chronicle was one of the leading genres of ancient Russian literature. This is an original Russian genre, unknown to Byzantine literature, its structure and principles were developed by Russian scribes gradually and finally took shape in the second half of the 11th - early 12th centuries.
The content of the chronicle, its main theme, is the history of the Russian land in the broadest sense of the word. The chronicle tells about campaigns and battles, about the military exploits of the princes and their activities in organizing the Russian land, about princely strife and diplomatic relations with other countries, about the founding of monasteries and the lives of saints. The chronicle also tells about the construction of cities, the construction of fortress walls, churches and princely chambers. The chronicler notes the most significant natural phenomena: prolonged rains and droughts, eclipses of the sun and moon, the appearance of comets. Such a thematic breadth involves the use of sources of different content and origin - oral stories and legends, literary works (lives of saints, military stories, princely biographies, walks, etc.), business documents.
Each chronicle is a kind of "set" of numerous historical sources and literary texts. The chronicler arranges all this heterogeneous material in a strict order - according to annual articles, each of which begins with the words "In the summer ..." and the date from the creation of the world. The creation of a new chronicle is a creative process, not a mechanical combination of different materials. When compiling a new chronicle, the chronicler uses, first of all, the chronicles created earlier, he supplements them with new messages, edits, omits something, changes something according to his views on historical events. The chronicler strives for completeness of exposition, accuracy, concreteness; he narrates calmly and unhurriedly, tries to be objective and impartial.
In ancient Russia, a great many chronicles were kept. There were chronicles of grand dukes and metropolitans, monasteries and churches, chronicles of individual cities and princes, many of them have survived to this day. Let us name only the most ancient manuscripts that have come down to us, in which chronicle texts are read: the Synodal list of the Novgorod Noah Chronicle (XIII century), the Laurentian Chronicle (1377), the Ipatiev Chronicle (beginning of the XV century). Most of the lists of Russian chronicles are of a later time, the end of the 15th-18th centuries.
In the initial, ancient period of Russian chronicle writing, there is much that is unclear. This is due to the fact that the texts of the first Russian chronicles did not reach us or were not preserved in their original form, but as part of later chronicle collections, where they were revised and supplemented. Most scientists (A. A. Shakhmatov, M. D. Priselkov, D. S. Likhachev and others) believe that the first Russian chronicles began to be created in the middle of the 11th century, but they disagree about what their texts were like, about what they said.
One of the centers of chronicle writing in the second half of the 11th century was the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. Scientists suggest that in the 1960s and 1970s one of the oldest chronicles was created here, the author of which is considered to be the monk Nikon. Nikon collected legends about the first Russian princes, wrote down historical information and stories about the events of the present and the recent past.
In the 90s of the 11th century (around 1095), a new chronicle was created within the walls of the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery, conditionally called the "Initial". The compiler of the "Initial Code" supplemented Nikon's work with records of the events of the 70-90s, giving the whole narrative a journalistic character: he reproaches the contemporary princes for destroying the Russian land in internecine wars, unable to protect it from devastating Polovtsian raids. Like the code of Nikon, the text of the “Initial Code” did not reach us; in a revised form, it became part of the Novgorod 1st Chronicle.
The oldest chronicle, the text of which has survived to our time, is The Tale of Bygone Years, created by the scribe of the same Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor no later than 1115.
Okhotnikova V.I. Old Russian Literature: A Textbook for Grades 5-9 / Ed. O.V. Tvorogov. - M.: Enlightenment, 1997