1. The hero of the story is Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, a petty official of one of the St. Petersburg departments, a humiliated and powerless man “of short stature, somewhat pockmarked, somewhat reddish, somewhat blind even in appearance, with a small bald spot on his forehead, with wrinkles on both sides of his cheeks.” 2. The hero of Gogol's story is offended by fate in everything, but he does not complain: he is already over fifty, he did not go beyond copying papers, did not rise in rank above the titular councilor (a civil servant of the 9th class, who does not have the right to acquire personal nobility - unless he born a nobleman) - and yet humble, meek, devoid of ambitious dreams. Bashmachkin has neither family nor friends, he does not go to the theater or to visit. All his “spiritual” needs are satisfied by copying papers: “It is not enough to say: he served zealously, - no, he served with love.” Nobody considers him to be a person. “The young officials laughed and made jokes at him, as much as their clerical wit was enough...” Bashmachkin did not answer a single word to his offenders, did not even stop working and did not make mistakes in the letter. All his life Akaki Akakievich serves in the same place, in the same position; His salary is meager - 400 rubles. per year, the uniform has long been no longer green, but a reddish flour color; an overcoat worn to holes is called a hood by his colleagues. 3. Gogol does not hide the limitations, the meager interests of his hero, his tongue-tiedness. But something else comes to the fore: his meekness, uncomplaining patience. Even the name of the hero carries this meaning: Akaki is humble, gentle, does not do evil, innocent. The appearance of the overcoat reveals the hero’s spiritual world; for the first time, the hero’s emotions are depicted, although Gogol does not give the character’s direct speech - only a retelling. Akaki Akakievich remains speechless even at the critical moment of his life. The drama of this situation lies in the fact that no one helped Bashmachkin. 4. “The plot of “The Overcoat” is extremely simple. The poor little official makes an important decision and orders a new overcoat. While she is being sewn, she turns into the dream of his life. The very first evening he puts it on, his overcoat is taken off by thieves on a dark street. The official dies of grief, and his ghost wanders around the city. The story about the “posthumous existence” of Akaki Akakievich is full of horror and comedy at the same time. In the deathly silence of the St. Petersburg night, he tears off the greatcoats from officials, not recognizing the bureaucratic difference in ranks and operating both behind the Kalinkin Bridge (that is, in the poor part of the capital) and in the rich part of the city. Only having caught up with the direct culprit of his death, “one significant person", who, after a friendly party with the bosses, goes to "a lady he knows, Karolina Ivanovna", and, having torn off his general's overcoat, the "spirit" of the dead Akaki Akakievich calms down and disappears from St. Petersburg squares and streets. Apparently, “the general’s overcoat suited him perfectly.”
The concept " Old Russian literature"includes literary works of the 11th-17th centuries. The literary monuments of this period include not only literary works themselves, but also historical works (chronicles and chronicle stories), descriptions of travel (they were called walks), teachings, lives (stories about the lives of people ranked among the saints by the church), epistles, works of the oratorical genre, some texts of a business nature. All these monuments contain elements artistic creativity, an emotional reflection of modern life.
The vast majority of Old Russian literary works did not preserve the names of their creators. Old Russian literature, as a rule, is anonymous, and in this respect it is similar to oral folk art. Literature Ancient Rus' handwritten: works were distributed by copying texts. In the course of the handwritten existence of works over the centuries, texts were not only copied, but often revised in connection with changes in literary tastes, the socio-political situation, in connection with personal preferences and literary abilities scribes. This explains the existence of different editions and variants of the same monument in handwritten lists. Comparative textual analysis (see Textology) of editions and variants makes it possible for researchers to restore the literary history of a work and decide which text is closest to the original, author’s, and how it has changed over time. Only in the rarest cases do we have author's lists of monuments, and very often in later lists texts come to us that are closer to the author's than in earlier lists. Therefore, the study of ancient Russian literature is based on an exhaustive study of all copies of the work being studied. Collections of ancient Russian manuscripts are available in large libraries in different cities, archives, and museums. Many works have been preserved in large number lists, quite a few - in a very limited way. There are works represented by a single list: “The Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh, “The Tale of Woe-Misfortune”, etc., in the only list the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” has come down to us, but he also died during Napoleon’s invasion of Moscow in 1812 G.
A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is the repetition of certain situations, characteristics, comparisons, epithets, and metaphors in different works of different times. The literature of Ancient Rus' is characterized by “etiquette”: the hero acts and behaves as he should, according to the concepts of that time, act and behave in the given circumstances; specific events (for example, a battle) are depicted using constant images and forms, everything has a certain ceremoniality. Old Russian literature is solemn, majestic, and traditional. But over the seven hundred years of its existence, it has gone through a complex path of development, and within the framework of its unity we observe a variety of themes and forms, changes in old and creation of new genres, a close connection between the development of literature and historical destinies countries. All the time there was a kind of struggle between living reality, creative individuality authors and the requirements of the literary canon.
The emergence of Russian literature dates back to the end of the 10th century, when, with the adoption of Christianity as the state religion in Rus', service and historical narrative texts should have appeared in Church Slavonic. Ancient Rus', through Bulgaria, where these texts mainly came from, immediately became familiar with the highly developed Byzantine literature and the literature of the South Slavs. The interests of the developing Kyiv feudal state required the creation of their own, original works and new genres. Literature was called upon to cultivate a sense of patriotism, to affirm the historical and political unity of the ancient Russian people and the unity of the family of ancient Russian princes, and to expose princely feuds.
Objectives and themes of literature of the 11th - early 13th centuries. (issues of Russian history in its connection with world history, the history of the emergence of Rus', the fight against external enemies - the Pechenegs and Polovtsians, the struggle of princes for the Kiev throne) determined general character style of this time, called by academician D.S. Likhachev the style of monumental historicism. The emergence of Russian chronicles is associated with the beginning of Russian literature. As part of later Russian chronicles, the “Tale of Bygone Years” has come down to us - a chronicle compiled by the ancient Russian historian and publicist monk Nestor around 1113. The “Tale of Bygone Years” is based on, which includes the story of world history, and records by year about events in Rus', and legendary legends, and stories about princely feuds, and laudatory characteristics of individual princes, and philippics condemning them, and copies of documentary materials, there are even earlier chronicles that have not reached us. Studying lists of ancient Russian texts makes it possible to restore lost names literary history ancient Russian works. XI century The first Russian lives (of princes Boris and Gleb, abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Theodosius) also date back. These lives are distinguished by literary perfection, attention to pressing problems modernity, the vitality of many episodes. Maturity of political thought, patriotism, journalisticism, high literary skill The monuments of oratory eloquence “The Sermon on Law and Grace” by Hilarion (1st half of the 11th century), the words and teachings of Cyril of Turov (1130-1182) are also characterized. The “Instruction” of the great Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh (1053-1125) is imbued with concerns about the fate of the country and deep humanity.
In the 80s XII century an author unknown to us creates the most brilliant work of ancient Russian literature - “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The specific topic to which the “Tale” is devoted is the unsuccessful campaign in 1185 in the Polovtsian steppe of the Novgorod-Seversk prince Igor Svyatoslavich. But the author is concerned about the fate of the entire Russian land, he recalls the events of the distant past and the present, and the true hero of his work is not Igor, not the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, to whom a lot of attention is paid in the Lay, but the Russian people, the Russian land. The “Word” is associated with many features literary traditions of its time, but, as a work of genius, it is distinguished by a number of features inherent only to it: the originality of the processing of etiquette techniques, the richness of the language, the sophistication of the rhythmic structure of the text, the nationality of its very essence and the creative rethinking of the techniques of oral folk art, special lyricism, high civic pathos .
The main theme of the literature of the period of the Horde yoke (1243, XIII century - end of the XV century) was national-patriotic. The monumental-historical style takes on an expressive tone: the works created at this time bear a tragic imprint and are distinguished by lyrical elation. Great value The idea of strong princely power acquires in literature. Both chronicles and individual stories (“The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”), written by eyewitnesses and going back to oral traditions, tell of the horrors of the enemy invasion and the infinitely heroic struggle of the people against the enslavers. The image of an ideal prince - a warrior and statesman, defender of the Russian land - was most clearly reflected in the “Tale of the Life of Alexander Nevsky” (70s of the 13th century). A poetic picture of the greatness of the Russian land, Russian nature, the former power of the Russian princes appears in the “Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” - in an excerpt from a work that has not survived in full, dedicated to the tragic events of the Horde yoke (1st half of the 13th century).
Literature of the 14th century - 50s XV century reflects the events and ideology of the time of the unification of the principalities of north-eastern Rus' around Moscow, the formation of the Russian nationality and the gradual formation of the Russian centralized state. During this period, ancient Russian literature began to show interest in the psychology of the individual, in his spiritual world(though still within the limits of religious consciousness), which leads to the growth of the subjective principle. An expressive-emotional style emerges, characterized by verbal sophistication and ornamental prose (the so-called “weaving of words”). All this reflects the desire to portray human feelings. In the 2nd half of the 15th - early 16th centuries. stories appear, the plot of which goes back to oral histories of a novelistic nature (“The Tale of Peter, Prince of the Horde”, “The Tale of Dracula”, “The Tale of the Merchant Basarga and his son Borzosmysl”). The number of translated works of a fictional nature is significantly increasing, and the genre of political legendary works (The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir) is becoming widespread.
In the middle of the 16th century. Ancient Russian writer and publicist Ermolai-Erasmus creates “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” - one of the most remarkable works of literature of Ancient Rus'. The story is written in the tradition of an expressive-emotional style; it is built on the legendary legend about how a peasant girl, thanks to her intelligence, became a princess. The author widely used fairy-tale techniques, but at the same time, social motives sound acutely in the story. “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” is in many ways connected with the literary traditions of its time and the previous period, but at the same time it is ahead of modern literature, is distinguished by artistic perfection and bright individuality.
In the 16th century the official character of literature is strengthening, its distinctive feature becomes pomp and solemnity. Works of a general nature are becoming widespread, the purpose of which is to regulate the spiritual, political, legal and daily life. The “Great Menaion of Chetya” is being created - a 12-volume set of texts intended for everyday reading for each month. At the same time, “Domostroy” was written, which sets out the rules of human behavior in the family, detailed tips housekeeping, rules of relationships between people. In literary works, the individual style of the author is more noticeably manifested, which is especially clearly reflected in the messages of Ivan the Terrible. IN historical narratives Fiction is penetrating more and more, giving the narrative greater plot-level entertainment. This is inherent in the “History of the Grand Duke of Moscow” by Andrei Kurbsky, and is reflected in the “Kazan History” - an extensive plot-historical narrative about the history of the Kazan kingdom and the struggle for Kazan by Ivan the Terrible.
In the 17th century the process of transforming medieval literature into modern literature begins. New purely literary genres are emerging, the process of democratization of literature is underway, and its subject matter is significantly expanding. Events of the Time of Troubles and the Peasant War late XVI - early XVII V. change the view of history and the role of the individual in it, which leads to the liberation of literature from church influence. Writers of the Time of Troubles (Abrahamy Palitsyn, I.M. Katyrev-Rostovsky, Ivan Timofeev, etc.) try to explain the acts of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, False Dmitry, Vasily Shuisky not only by the manifestation of divine will, but also by the dependence of these acts on the person himself, his personal characteristics. In literature, the idea of the formation, change and development of human character under the influence of external circumstances arises. Literary work starts to study more wide circle persons The so-called posad literature is born, which is created and exists in a democratic environment. A genre emerges democratic satire, in which state and church orders are ridiculed: legal proceedings ("The Tale of Shemyakin's Court"), church services ("Service for the Tavern"), holy scripture ("The Tale of a Peasant Son"), clerical office practice ("The Tale of Ersha Ershovich") are parodied. , “Kalyazin petition”). The nature of lives also changes, which are all in to a greater extent become real life stories. The most remarkable work of this genre in the 17th century. is the autobiographical “Life” of Archpriest Avvakum (1620-1682), written by him in 1672-1673. It is remarkable not only for its lively and vivid story about the harsh and courageous life path the author, but with an equally vivid and passionate depiction of the social and ideological struggle of his time, deep psychologism, preaching pathos, combined with full revelation of confession. And all this is written in a lively, rich language, sometimes in a high bookish language, sometimes in a bright, colloquial language.
The rapprochement of literature with everyday life, the appearance in the narrative of a love affair, and psychological motivations for the hero’s behavior are inherent in a number of stories of the 17th century. (“The Tale of Misfortune-Grief”, “The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn”, “The Tale of Frol Skobeev”, etc.). Translated collections of a novelistic nature appear, with short edifying, but at the same time anecdotally entertaining stories, translated chivalric novels(“The Tale of Bova the Prince”, “The Tale of Eruslan Lazarevich”, etc.). The latter, on Russian soil, acquired the character of original, “their” monuments and over time entered the popular print market. folk literature. In the 17th century poetry develops (Simeon Polotsky, Sylvester Medvedev, Karion Istomin and others). In the 17th century The history of the great ancient Russian literature as a phenomenon characterized by common principles, which, however, underwent certain changes, came to an end. Old Russian literature, with its entire development, prepared Russian literature of modern times.
Each people or nation, country or locality has its own cultural history. Large segment cultural traditions and monuments are made up of literature - the art of words. It is in it that the life and life characteristics of any people are reflected, from which one can understand how these people lived in past centuries and even millennia. Therefore, scientists probably consider literature the most important monument of history and culture.
literature
The Russian people are not an exception, but rather a confirmation of the above. The history of Russian literature goes back centuries. More than a thousand years have passed since its appearance. Researchers and scientists from many countries study it as a phenomenon and a striking example of verbal creativity - folk and author's. Some foreigners even specifically study Russian, but it is not considered the easiest language in the world!
Periodization
Traditionally, the history of Russian literature is divided into several main periods. Some of them are quite lengthy in time. Some are more brief. Let's take a closer look at them.
Pre-literary period
Before the adoption of Christianity (by Olga in 957, by Vladimir in 988), there was no written language in Rus'. As a rule, if necessary, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew were used. More precisely, it had its own, even in the times of paganism, but in the form of dashes or notches on wooden tags or sticks (called: features, cuts), but no literary monuments were preserved on it. songs, epics - mostly) were transmitted orally.
Old Russian
This period ran from the 11th to the 17th centuries - quite a long time. The history of Russian literature of this period includes religious and secular (historical) texts of Kievan, and then Moscow Rus'. Vivid examples literary creativity: “The Life of Boris and Gleb”, “The Tale of Bygone Years” (11-12th centuries), “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev”, “Zadonshchina” - describing the period of the yoke, and many others.
18th century
This period is what historians call “ Russian enlightenment" The foundation of classical poetry and prose is laid by such great creators and educators as Lomonosov, Fonvizin, Derzhavin and Karamzin. As a rule, their creativity is multifaceted, and is not limited to literature alone, but extends to science and other types of art. Literary language This period is a little difficult to understand, as it uses outdated forms of address. But this does not prevent us from perceiving the images and thoughts of the great educators of our time. Thus, Lomonosov constantly sought to reform the language of literature, to make it the language of philosophy and science, and advocated for the rapprochement of literary and folk linguistic forms.
History of Russian literature of the 19th century
This period in Russian literature is the “golden age”. At this time, literature, history, and the Russian language entered the world stage. All this happened thanks to the reformist genius of Pushkin, who actually introduced into literary use the Russian language as we are accustomed to perceive it. Griboyedov and Lermontov, Gogol and Turgenev, Tolstoy and Chekhov, Dostoevsky and many other writers made up this golden clip. And the literary works created by them have forever entered the classics of the world art of speech.
Silver Age
This period is quite short in time - only from 1890 to 1921. But in this turbulent time of wars and revolutions, a powerful flowering of Russian poetry occurs, and bold experiments arise in art in general. Blok and Bryusov, Gumilev and Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva and Mayakovsky, Yesenin and Gorky, Bunin and Kuprin are the most prominent representatives.
The end of the Soviet period dates back to the collapse of the USSR, 1991. And from 1991 to the present day - modern period, who has already given Russian literature new interesting works, but posterity will probably judge this with greater accuracy.
Science is developing at a rapid pace, but many questions still do not have clear answers, just like thousands of years ago. Where did life on Earth come from? Where did Man come from? Nowadays, many are trying to challenge the theory of origin from a monkey. Although Darwin did not say that man descended from apes. He argued that we have a common ape-like ancestor. How did a person learn to speak? There are also theories here. Some are more or less reasonable, others are not, like the Japhetic theory of Nicholas Marr, who argued that all words come from four roots - “sal”, “ber”, “yon” and “rosh”. Marr forced his students to look for these roots in all words. As a result, the words red, Etruscan, red. Linguists did not like this theory, but Soviet officials really liked it, since Marr argued that language has a “class nature” and stages of language development can be distinguished by analogy with the stages of development of society, as Marx saw it. His theory fit perfectly with the ideology of “class struggle.”
This theory was untenable, so in May-June 1950 it was crushed, and former Marrists began to write open letters of “repentance” for their mistakes to newspapers.
This was in the last century, but in this sense it is “still there,” and we now know no more about the appearance of language than Marr.
Scientists also tried to study the history of literature. When did she appear? And why? And there is something to think about. As in the matter of Art in general.
What had to happen for a primitive man, who almost yesterday climbed down from a tree, resting after hunting in a cave, suddenly took something - a stone or something else - walked up to the wall and began not just to scribble, but to DRAW? Depict an animal seen on a hunt and everything experienced? This was a step more important than the invention of the stone ax - the ax has practical significance. But it is from this moment that the beginning of Man can be counted in principle. An emotion that craves expression in creativity, in creation.
It was with this primitive man, who first tried to depict something on the wall of a cave, and the creatures he painted, that Art began in principle. And not only picturesque - this can also be called a kind of literature! He was telling a story - the story of a hunt.
But when did verbal literature begin?
James Fraser (1854 - 1941) - British scientist, religious scholar, argued that the source of everything is ritual. The ritual, according to Fraser, is in some way an imitation of the desired result - for example, wishing the death of an enemy, they mutilate his image, “kill” the animal depicted on the wall before hunting. From ritual, according to Fraser, myth arises (and not vice versa). Myth is the verbal consolidation of a ritual. And then the myth becomes " building material"work of art. He sees the concept of the origin of literature as follows: Ritual - Myth - artwork. Gilbert Merey also agrees with this, seeing elements of ritual in a number of plots. So he deduces the abduction of Elena from the ritual of bride kidnapping. Jessie Weston continued this theory, explaining the medieval legend of the Holy Grail as a ritual basis. The researcher derives it not from the Christian legend about the sacred cup, but from the ancient rite of initiation. American scientists developed this theory, linking certain seasonal rituals to certain genres. The American Northrop Frye tried to determine the role of mythology as a source of archetypes. According to Frye, literary works are created from the same archetypal models.
The obvious vulnerability of this theory is visible. Where did the rituals come from then? After all, not everyone, one way or another, copies the desired result. Moreover, such an approach completely excludes both the individual author’s understanding of reality and reality itself, which could also become a source of mythology? Stories about exploits in hunting or war. For example, ancient Greek stories about heroes. Why couldn’t the achievements of certain warriors become a source of myth and exist already exaggerated in popular consciousness? This, by the way, is where the statements about the “divine” origin of the hero or heroine come from. It was difficult for people to imagine that a warrior with incredible physical strength was the same as them. Or an ancient man’s attempt to answer the question of why thunder thunders, why it rains, and why the sun rises and sets?
The only type of literature that can be classified as myth, other than drama, is folklore. Folk tales really came out of the myth. Here are Koschey the Immortal - the image of death, and Perun, who defeats him, and Baba Yaga, whom many researchers consider to be a kind of guardian of the border between the world of the living and the world of the dead. And the children she is trying to “bake” in the oven are a reflection of initiation, which was supposed to symbolize the “death” of a person as a child and his new “birth” as an adult.
This topic is extremely interesting. But one thing is clear - art from the very beginning was individual. Even when it was folklore. It expressed the emotions of an individual in whom everyone else recognized their own. No matter what they say in Soviet era. And what is a collective if not a multitude of individuals?
Introduction
The centuries-old literature of Ancient Rus' has its own classics, there are works that we can rightfully call classics, which perfectly represent the literature of Ancient Rus' and are known throughout the world. Every educated Russian person should know them.
Ancient Rus', in the traditional sense of the word, embracing the country and its history from the 10th to the 17th centuries, had a great culture. This culture, the immediate predecessor of the new Russian culture of the 18th-20th centuries, nevertheless had some of its own phenomena, characteristic only of it.
Ancient Rus' is famous all over the world for its painting and architecture. But it is remarkable not only for these “silent” arts, which allowed some Western scientists to call the culture of Ancient Rus' the culture of great silence. IN lately The discovery of ancient Russian music begins anew and more slowly - much more difficult to understand art - the art of words, literature.
That is why many foreign languages“The Tale of Law and Grace” by Hilarion, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “Walking across the Three Seas” by Afanasy Nikitin, The Works of Ivan the Terrible, “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum” and many others have now been translated.
Getting acquainted with the literary monuments of Ancient Rus', modern man without much difficulty will notice their differences from the works of literature of modern times: this is the lack of detailed characters, this is the paucity of details in the description of the appearance of the heroes, their surroundings, the landscape, this is the psychological lack of motivation for actions, and the “facelessness” of remarks that can be conveyed to any hero of the work, since they do not reflect the individuality of the speaker, this is also the “insincerity” of monologues with an abundance of traditional “commonplaces” - abstract reasoning on theological or moral topics, with excessive pathos or expression.
It would be easiest to explain all these features by the student nature of Old Russian literature, to see in them only the result of the fact that the writers of the Middle Ages had not yet mastered the “mechanism” plot construction, which in general outline is now known to every writer and every reader.
All this is true only to some extent. Literature is constantly evolving. The arsenal is expanding and enriching artistic techniques. Each writer in his work relies on the experience and achievements of his predecessors.
The emergence of Russian literature
Literature arose in Rus' simultaneously with the adoption of Christianity. But the intensity of its development undeniably indicates that both the Christianization of the country and the emergence of writing were determined primarily by state needs. Having adopted Christianity, Ancient Rus' simultaneously received writing and literature.
Old Russian scribes were faced with a very difficult task: it was necessary to provide the churches and monasteries created in Rus' with the books necessary for worship in the shortest possible time; it was necessary to acquaint newly converted Christians with Christian dogma, with the foundations of Christian morality, with Christian historiography in the broadest sense of the word: and with the history of the Universe, peoples and states, and with the history of the church, and, finally, with the history of the lives of Christian ascetics.
As a result, ancient Russian scribes, already during the first two centuries of the existence of their writing, became acquainted with all the main genres and main monuments of Byzantine literature.
It was necessary to talk about how, from a Christian point of view, the world works, to explain the meaning of nature expediently and wisely “arranged by God.” In short, it was necessary to immediately create literature devoted to the most complex ideological issues. The books brought from Bulgaria could not provide all these diverse needs of the young Christian state, and, therefore, it was necessary to translate, rewrite, and reproduce works of Christian literature. All the energy, all the strength, all the time of the ancient Russian scribes at first was absorbed in the implementation of these primary tasks.
The writing process was lengthy, the writing material (parchment) was expensive, and this not only made each book volume labor-intensive, but also gave it a special aura of value and significance. Literature was perceived as something very important, serious, intended to serve the highest spiritual needs.
Writing was necessary in all spheres of government and public life, in interprincely and international relations, in legal practice. The advent of writing stimulated the activity of translators and copyists, and most importantly, created opportunities for the emergence of original literature, both serving the needs and requirements of the church (teachings, solemn words, lives) and purely secular literature (chronicles). However, it is quite natural that in the consciousness ancient Russian people At that time, Christianization and the emergence of writing (literature) were considered as a single process.
In article 988 of the oldest Russian chronicle - “The Tale of Bygone Years”, immediately after the message about the adoption of Christianity, it is said that the Kiev prince Vladimir, “sent, began to take children from deliberate children [from noble people], and began to give books to study.”
In an article in 1037, characterizing the activities of Vladimir’s son, Prince Yaroslav, the chronicler noted that he “was diligent in books, and revered them [reading them], often at night and during the day. And the scribe collected many and translated from Greek into Slovenian writing [translating from Greek]. And having copied many books, people who learn faithfully enjoy the teachings of the divine.” Further, the chronicler gives a kind of praise for the books: “Great is the benefit from the teaching of books: for by books we show and teach the ways of repentance [books instruct and teach us repentance], for we gain wisdom and abstinence from the words of books. These are the rivers that feed the universe, these are the origins [sources] of wisdom; there is infinite depth in books.” The first article from one of the oldest ancient Russian collections - “Izbornik 1076” echoes these words of the chronicler; it states that, just as a ship cannot be built without nails, one cannot become a righteous person without reading books; advice is given to read slowly and thoughtfully: do not try to quickly read to the end of the chapter, but think about what you have read, re-read one and the same chapter until you understand its meaning.
Getting acquainted with ancient Russian manuscripts of the 11th-14th centuries, establishing the sources used by Russian writers - chroniclers, hagiographers (authors of lives), authors of solemn words or teachings, we are convinced that in the chronicle we do not have abstract declarations about the benefits of enlightenment; in the 10th and first half of the 11th centuries. A huge amount of work was done in Rus': a huge amount of literature was copied from Bulgarian originals or translated from Greek.
Old Russian literature can be considered as literature of one theme and one plot. This plot is world history, and this theme is the meaning human life.
It’s not that all works are devoted to world history (although there are a lot of these works): that’s not the point! Each work, to some extent, finds its geographical place and its chronological milestone in the history of the world. All works can be placed in one row one after another in the order of events: we always know to what historical time they are attributed by the authors.
Literature tells, or at least strives to tell, not about the imagined, but about the real. Therefore, the real - world history, real geographical space - connects all individual works with each other.
In fact, fiction in ancient Russian works disguised by the truth. Open fiction is not allowed. All works are dedicated to events that happened, happened, or, although they did not exist, are seriously considered to have happened. Old Russian literature up to the 17th century. does not know or hardly knows the conventional characters. Names characters- historical: Boris and Gleb, Feodosia Pechersky, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Sergius of Radonezh, Stefan of Perm... At the same time, ancient Russian literature talks mainly about those persons who played a significant role in historical events: be it Alexander the Great or Abraham of Smolensk.
One of the most popular books of Ancient Rus' is “The Six Days” by John Exarch of Bulgaria. This book tells about the world, arranging its story in the order of the biblical legend about the creation of the world in six days. On the first day light was created, on the second - the visible sky and waters, on the third - the sea, rivers, springs and seeds, on the fourth - the sun, moon and stars, on the fifth - fish, reptiles and birds, on the sixth - animals and humans . Each of the days described is a hymn to creation, the world, its beauty and wisdom, the consistency and diversity of the elements of the whole.
Just as we talk about the epic in folk art, we can talk about the epic in ancient Russian literature. An epic is not a simple sum of epics and historical songs. The epics are plot-related. They paint us a whole epic era in the life of the Russian people. The era is fantastic, but at the same time historical. This era is the time of the reign of Vladimir the Red Sun. The action of many plots is transferred here, which obviously existed before, and in some cases arose later. Another epic time is the time of independence of Novgorod. Historical songs They paint for us, if not a single era, then, in any case, a single course of events: the 16th and 17th centuries. predominantly.
Ancient Russian literature is also a cycle. A cycle that is many times superior to folklore ones. This is an epic telling the history of the universe and the history of Rus'.
None of the works of Ancient Rus' - translated or original - stands apart. They all complement each other in the picture of the world they create. Each story is a complete whole, and at the same time it is connected with others. This is only one chapter of the history of the world. Even such works as the translated story “Stephanit and Ikhnilat” (an ancient Russian version of the plot of “Kalila and Dimna”) or written on the basis oral histories anecdotal in nature, "The Tale of Dracula", are included in collections and are not found in separate lists. They begin to appear in individual manuscripts only in the late tradition in the 17th and 18th centuries.
There is a kind of continuous cyclization going on. Even the notes of the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin about his “Walk across the Three Seas” were included in the chronicle. These notes become a historical composition - a story about the events of the trip to India. Such a fate is not uncommon for literary works of Ancient Rus': many of the stories over time begin to be perceived as historical, as documents or narratives about Russian history: be it the sermon of the abbot of the Vydubetsky Monastery Moses, delivered by him on the occasion of the construction of the monastery wall, or the life of a saint.
The works were built according to the “enfilade principle”. The life was supplemented over the centuries with services to the saint and descriptions of his posthumous miracles. It could grow with additional stories about the saint. Several lives of the same saint could be combined into a new one single work. The chronicle could be supplemented with new information. The end of the chronicle seemed to be pushed back all the time, continuing with additional entries about new events (the chronicle grew along with history). Individual annual articles of the chronicle could be supplemented with new information from other chronicles; they could include new works. Chronographs and historical sermons were also supplemented in this way. Collections of words and teachings grew. That is why in ancient Russian literature there are so many huge works that unite individual narratives into a common “epic” about the world and its history.
Conclusion:
The circumstances of the emergence of Old Russian literature, its place and functions in the life of society determined the system of its original genres, that is, those genres within which the development of original Russian literature began.
At first, according to the expressive definition of D.S. Likhachev, it was literature of “one theme and one plot. This plot is world history, and this theme is the meaning of human life.” And indeed, all genres of ancient Russian literature were devoted to this topic and this plot, especially if we talk about the literature of the early Middle Ages.
