03.11.2019

Who were the heroes of ancient Russian literature? The image of a hero in ancient Russian literature. The idea of man in ancient Russian literature - Abstract

The originality of ancient Russian literature in the depiction of the hero, unlike the Russian classics familiar to us, also characterizes its features. It does not contain familiar images, as in the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. The medieval writer had his own artistic vision of man and special ways of depicting him.

The reproduction of a person in ancient literature, as in modern literature, depends on the style and genre of the work. But, unlike new literature, genres and styles in ancient literature are also unique. Without understanding them, it is impossible to imagine the artistic originality of the monuments of Ancient Rus'.

Academician D.S. Likhachev defined the literary styles of Ancient Rus': the style of monumental historicism (XI-XIII centuries), the epic style in literature (XI-XIII centuries), the expressive-emotional style (late XIV-XV centuries), the style of psychological pacification (XV centuries). 1 He examined the artistic vision of man in ancient literature. In accordance with his judgments, we present the material.

In relation to styles and genres, the hero is reproduced in the monuments of ancient literature, ideals are formed and created. The monumental style of the 11th-13th centuries is presented in chronicles, military stories and stories about princely crimes. The image of the ideal hero was associated with the feudal structure and with the range of social concepts, with ideas about the honor, rights and duty of the feudal lord, with his duties to the state.

The prince was the ideal hero in the chronicles. It was created by the chronicler in “monumental grandeur”, as in the mosaics and frescoes of the 11th-13th centuries. The chronicler was interested in the official image of the prince, his significant actions as a historical figure, but his human qualities remained outside of attention.

The ideal image of a hero was created in accordance with certain canons 2: the dignity and virtues of the prince were listed, which were supposed to evoke worship (mighty, independent, handsome in face, brave, skilled in military affairs, courageous, destroyer of enemies, guardian of the state).

The pomp and solemnity characteristic of the monumental style distinguished the narrative of the ideal hero. D.S. Likhachev writes: “Both in literature and in painting we are undoubtedly facing monumental art. This is an art capable of embodying the heroism of the individual, the concepts of honor, glory, the power of the prince, class differences in the position of people” 3.

The prince is presented in an aura of power and glory. This is a statesman and warrior. Fearlessness in battle and contempt for death are one of the traits of an ideal hero. He is ahead of his army, fearlessly rushes into battle and goes out to duel with the enemy. The prince in the chronicle personifies the power and dignity of the country. The ideal of the prince in the literature of the 11th-13th centuries expressed the patriotic feelings of the chronicler, embodied the love for the fatherland, for the Russian land. The prince serves Rus' and is ready to die for it. He is called upon to guard the Russian land, as the chronicles write, “to lay down his head for the peasants and for the Russian land, to work for his fatherland.” Patriotism was not only a duty, but also a conviction of the Russian princes; the characters were historical figures, and not the fruit of the author’s fiction.

In such works of ancient Russian literature as lives, asceticism, the feat of serving the fatherland, the holiness and “blessedness” of the lives of Russian saints are glorified. Their images combined an example of selflessness, passionate service to an idea, and expressed the folk ideals of the spiritual beauty of the Russian person (Theodosius of Pechersk, Sergius of Radonezh, etc.). In the stories about saints, their greatness, their ideality is conveyed against an expressive-emotional background, which creates the expressive-emotional style of literature of the late XIV-XV centuries. This is especially evident in hagiographic literature, which elevates the life of a saint to a high feat, to an ideal. In ancient literature the saint is called a “soldier of Christ.” He is an ascetic, the main thing about him is his feat, which he performs as a warrior. For example, Epiphanius the Wise calls Stephen of Perm “courageous brave,” i.e. hero. The image of Sergius of Radonezh is sublime and heroic.

In the literature of the 11th-13th centuries, an epic style is also evident in the depiction of heroes. It is especially noticeable in those works that are associated with oral folk art. As in folklore, the characters in the chronicle and the story are characterized “by one major act” (“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”). Both in the “Word” and in the “Tale” - a collective hero, folk hero- defender of the homeland. He is distinguished by strength and courage. The authors also transfer the exploits of his squad onto him (Bui-Tur Vsevolod, Svyatoslav, Evpatiy Kolovrat). The image of a hero unites with his squad and grows into a hero - this is a collective image.

Ancient literature created heroic characters of women. These are images of wives, mothers accompanying their loved ones on military campaigns and battles with enemies, widows mourning the dead. Vladimir Monomakh writes with love and warmth about the widow of his murdered son, like a dove on a dry tree. The image of the wife of the Ryazan prince Fyodor Eupraxia, who threw herself from the wall along with her infant (“The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”), is beautiful.

The ideal of a woman in Ancient Rus', expressed in service to loved ones, love for the homeland, contempt for the enemy, is embodied in chronicles, military stories, and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The image of Yaroslavna, faithful, loving woman, created in the song and folklore tradition.

The hymn of fidelity and love, the moral ideal of ancient literature, is presented in the image of the wise maiden Fevronia (“The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”). Here, “psychological tranquility” and emotional contemplation of the author are manifested, drawing the image of a Russian woman. The heroine is a high moral ideal, the life-giving power of her love cannot separate Fevronia from her chosen one even in death.

In the democratic literature of the 17th century (everyday, satirical stories) the discovery of human personality occurs. At this time, the hero and his image change dramatically. The literature of previous centuries did not know a fictional hero. All the characters in the works were historical (princes, priests, saints). They existed in Russian history. Now appears in literature a common person: a peasant, a peasant, a merchant's son, who broke with his family and set out in search of his place. These are fictional characters, unknown, unremarkable, unrelated to the history of life in Russia, but close to the reader. The hero has become nameless, this especially applies to heroes from a democratic environment. In the works they are called: “poor”, “rich”, “peasant son”, “maiden”, “certain merchant”.

The hero of democratic literature differs from the ideal hero of the 11th-13th centuries. He does not occupy any official position: neither a prince nor an official church official. The artistic means of depicting him are different: the hero is reduced, everyday. He is deprived of everything that elevated the characters in the literature of the 11th-13th centuries. This is a person suffering from cold, hunger, and social injustice. In contrast to the ceremonial clothes of the monumental images of the princes, he is dressed in a “tavern gunka”. He has lost contact with family and friends, lost in poverty, deprived of parental blessing - a degraded person, and yet, according to the author, in need of sympathy. “For the first time in Russian literature, the inner life of man was revealed with such power and insight, the fate of fallen man was depicted with such drama” 4. And in this appeal to the theme of the “little man” the beginning of the beginnings of Russian literature, its humanistic character, is revealed. The portrayal of the common man in the literature of the 17th century meant the “death of the medieval normative ideal” and the gradual emergence of literature into new way images of a hero based on reality. 5

The halo of martyrdom, service to an idea, the image of a “martyr for the faith” again rises in the literature of the 17th century in “The Life of Archpriest Avvakum.” The literature of Ancient Rus' again rose to monumentalism, to universal human and world themes, but on a completely different basis. The power of the individual in itself, outside of official status, the power of a person deprived of everything, thrown into an earthen pit, a person whose tongue has been cut out, who is deprived of the opportunity to write and communicate with the outside world, whose body is rotting, who is eaten by lice, who faces the most terrible torture and death at the stake - this power appeared in the works of Avvakum with stunning force and completely eclipsed the external omnipotence of the official position of the feudal lords. 6

This is how the image of the hero of ancient literature and artistic methods of depicting him undergo changes.

The idea of man in ancient Russian literature (page 1 of 2). Heroes of ancient Russian literature

Smolyan in ancient Russian literature - abstract

Municipal budget educational institution

secondary school No. 32

on the literature of the Smolensk region

on the topic: “Smolyans in Old Russian

literature"

Smolensk 2012

Introduction

The significance of Old Russian literature is that it helps to understand the achievements of great Russian literature. In ancient Russian literature there are sources of citizenship and ideology of modern times. Old Russian literature conveyed to Russian literature its high ideological spirit, its experience, and the richness of its language.

Old Russian hagiographic literature was one of the most important means of religious education. The lives depicted the moral ideal of a person who conquered earthly passions and followed Christian commandments. Although in concept and form the lives seem to be cliché, each ancient Russian life is unique and original, and each has its own hero.

The Smolensk region has an ancient and rich history. The political center of the Smolensk region, the city of Smolensk, arose more than 12 centuries ago on the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” However, the part of the city's history known to us begins in 863, in which the city was first mentioned in the chronicle. Thanks to the trade route, the city quickly grew and became rich. In the 9th century, Smolensk became the center of vast lands from Novgorod to Kyiv. In the 12th century, the heyday of the Smolensk Principality began. In 1136, Prince Rostislav Mstislavovich established a bishopric in Smolensk. At the same time, temples and cathedrals were erected throughout the Smolensk land, which became the pride of ancient Russian architecture.

Having such a rich history, the Smolensk region was mentioned more than once in ancient Russian literature. These are "The Tale of Boris and Gleb", "The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". The Smolensk region is one of the regions of Russia, for many centuries located in the center of the historical and cultural life of the country, a region with the richest literature and cultural traditions. On the territory of the Smolensk region, the existence of all genres of traditional and modern Russian folklore is noted; there are also numerous references to the culture of the Smolensk people in various literary works.

The purpose of the essay is to characterize the Smolensk heroes in ancient Russian literature. To do this, we will solve the following problems: general information about ancient Russian literature, an idea of the heroes, their character traits and actions, using the example of analyzing the works “The Tale of Boris and Gleb” and “The Tale of Mercury of Smolensk”.

1 Old Russian literature

1.1 History of ancient Russian literature, general characteristics

Academician D.S. Likhachev in “Notes on Russian” noted that in the XI-XIII centuries. “The unity of the Russian land was strengthened in different ways.” Important and effective forces that preserved this unity on the vast territory of the Old Russian state were language, folklore and literature. In the XIV-XV centuries. these forces helped to overcome the hardships of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, then to create a strong state - Muscovite Rus', and in the 17th century. - unite three fraternal peoples - Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians - into a single state.

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. Writing was necessary in all spheres of state and public life, in inter-princely and international relations, and 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 minds of the ancient Russian people of that time, Christianization and the emergence of writing (literature) were considered as a single process

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 century. A huge amount of work was done in Rus': a huge amount of literature was copied from Bulgarian originals or translated from Greek. 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.

The fact that Ancient Rus' began to read someone else’s a little earlier than writing its own does not in any way indicate the secondary nature of Russian national culture: we are talking about only one area of artistic creativity and only one sphere of the art of speech, namely literature, that is about the creation of written texts. Moreover, we note that at first among the written monuments there were a lot of texts from a modern point of view that were non-literary - it was, at best, specialized literature: works on theology, ethics, history, etc. If we talk about verbal art, then the bulk of its monuments at that time were, of course, unwritten folklore works. This correlation between literature and folklore in the spiritual life of society of that time should not be forgotten.

To understand the peculiarity and originality of original Russian literature, to appreciate the courage with which Russian scribes created works that “stand outside genre systems”, such as “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “Teaching” by Vladimir Monomakh, “Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik and the like , for all this it is necessary to get acquainted with at least some examples of individual genres of translated literature.

A genre is a historically established type of literary work, an abstract pattern on the basis of which the texts of specific literary works are created. The system of genres of literature of Ancient Rus' differed significantly from the modern one. Old Russian literature developed largely under the influence of Byzantine literature and borrowed from it a system of genres, reworking them on a national basis: the specificity of the genres of Old Russian literature lies in their connection with traditional Russian folk art. The genres of ancient Russian literature are usually divided into primary and unifying.

Primary genres: Life, Word, Teaching, Tale; primary genres also include weather recording, chronicle story, chronicle legend and church legend.

1.2 Heroes of ancient Russian literature

The heroes of ancient Russian literature are diverse. Here is Prince Oleg - the hero of the chronicle and Kozhemyaka - the winner in single combat with the Pechenegs, Evpatiy Kolovrat, who grew into a legendary figure of a hero, the Belogorsk elder from the initial chronicle, who outwitted the Pechenegs, the cunning and wise princess Olga, who took revenge on the Drevlyans for the death of her husband and the caring Eupraxia from the story of the arrival Batu to Ryazan.

It is important to note that the writers of Ancient Rus' had a very definite attitude towards the depiction of a person. The main thing is not external beauty, but the beauty of the soul. This is exactly what we tried to show by selecting several works from seven hundred years of ancient Russian literature

The literature of Ancient Rus' was based on the system religious ideas about the world. The world in the consciousness of ancient Russian man seemed to bifurcate: on the one hand, real, earthly life, on the other - the religious-mythological, “high” world, which opens to the chosen ones.

The heroes of ancient Russian literature were characterized by such character traits as zeal, generosity, patience, generosity, love, obedience, mercy, nobility, meekness, generosity, authority, piety, humility, modesty, courage, fidelity, wisdom, etc., and as well as individuals, they had the following properties: compassion, the ability to forgive, personal integrity, respect, responsibility, initiative, the ability to get along with people, perseverance.

In ancient Russian literature, the hero is idealized; at the beginning of his life’s journey, we do not see internal contradictions and falls from grace. The hero is brought up in a worthy family, where the main thing is “not to destroy the soul”, unquestioning submission to elders, and not to oppress the younger ones.

The hero acts as this hero should behave in the appropriate situation. For example, a prince appears in accordance with the ideal idea of his behavior, a positive hero is endowed only positive qualities, negative - negative. The hero acts as this hero should behave in the appropriate situation. For example, a prince appears in accordance with the ideal idea of his behavior, a positive hero is endowed with only positive qualities, and a negative hero is endowed with negative ones. In literary works, common places and etiquette formulas are defined.

referat911.ru

The idea of man in ancient Russian literature

Introduction

Conclusion

Russian literature is almost a thousand years old. This is one of the most ancient literatures in Europe. Its beginning dates back to the second half of the 10th century. Of this great millennium, more than seven hundred years belong to the period that is commonly called “ancient Russian literature.”

The artistic value of ancient Russian literature has not yet been truly determined.

We often talk about internal patterns of development literary images in works of new literature and that the actions of heroes are determined by their characters. Each hero of new literature reacts in his own way to influences outside world. That is why the actions of the characters may even be “unexpected” for the authors, as if dictated to the authors by the characters themselves.

Works of literature of Ancient Rus' are always attached to a specific historical event, to a specific historical person. These are stories about battles (about victories and defeats), about princely crimes, about trips to the holy land and simply about real people: most often about saints and prince-commanders. There are stories about icons and the building of churches, about miracles that are believed in, about phenomena that supposedly happened. But not new works on clearly fictional plots.

Literature accompanies Russian reality, Russian history in a huge stream, following on its heels. Fearing lies, writers base their works on documents, which they consider to be all previous writing.

The literature of Ancient Rus' is evidence of life. That is why history itself, to a certain extent, establishes the periodization of literature.

The literature of the 11th - first third of the 13th century can be considered as a single literature of Kievan Rus. This is the century of a single ancient Russian state. The century of the first Russian lives - Boris and Gleb and the first monument of Russian chronicle that has come down to us - “The Tale of Bygone Years”.

Next comes a relatively short period of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, when stories about the invasion of Mongol-Tatar troops in Rus', the Battle of Kalka, “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” and “The Life of Alexander Nevsky” were created. Literature is compressed into one theme, but this theme manifests itself with extraordinary intensity, and the features of the monumental-historical style acquire a tragic imprint and the lyrical elation of a high patriotic feeling.

The next period, the end of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century, is the century of the Pre-Renaissance, coinciding with the economic and cultural revival of the Russian land in the years immediately preceding and following the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. This is a period of expressive-emotional style and patriotic upsurge in literature, a period of revival of chronicle writing and historical storytelling.

The victory won by the Russians over the Mongol-Tatars on the Kulikovo Field made a huge impression not only on their contemporaries. This explains the fact that a number of literary monuments are dedicated to the Mamaev Massacre: “Zadonshchina”, “The Tale of the Mamaev Massacre”, etc.

In the second half of the 15th century, new phenomena were discovered in Russian literature: works of translated literature became widespread, and journalism developed.

Since the middle of the 16th century, literature has become increasingly influenced by the official trend. The 17th century is the century of transition to the literature of modern times. This is the age of development of the individual principle in everything: in the very type of writer and his work, the age of the development of individual tastes and styles, writer’s professionalism and a sense of authorial ownership.

This is the periodization of the history of ancient Russian literature. There is no need to consider all the monuments that existed in Ancient Rus'. Using the example of several works, we will consider how the theme of man and his deeds developed in ancient Russian literature.

One of the first, most important genres of emerging Russian literature was the genre of chronicle. The oldest chronicle that has actually reached us is the “Tale of Bygone Years,” presumably created around 1113. It is here that we first learn about the people of Ancient Rus'.

Kyiv scribes argued that the history of Rus' is similar to the history of other Christian states. It also had its own Christian ascetics, who tried to encourage the people to accept the new faith by personal example: Princess Olga was baptized in Constantinople and convinced her son Svyatoslav to also become a Christian. Rus' had its own martyrs and its own saints, for example, Boris and Gleb, who were killed on the orders of their brother Svyatopolk, but who did not break the Christian covenants of brotherly love and obedience to their elders.

Thus, Saints Boris and Gleb entered Russian literature as people who honored Christian covenants.

mirznanii.com

The idea of man in ancient Russian literature - Abstract

Introduction

1. Periodization of the history of ancient Russian literature

2. Man in literature ancient Rus'

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

Literature arose suddenly. The leap into the kingdom of literature occurred simultaneously with the appearance of Christianity and the church in Rus' and was prepared by the entire previous cultural development of the Russian people.

The artistic value of ancient Russian literature has not yet been truly determined.

Russian literature of the 11th - 17th centuries developed in peculiar conditions. It was handwritten. Printing, which appeared in Moscow in the mid-16th century, very little changed the nature and methods of distributing literary works. Basically, in the 17th century, literary works continued, as before, to be distributed through correspondence.

Some of the ancient Russian literary works were read and copied over several centuries. Others quickly disappeared, but the parts that the scribes liked were included in other works, since the sense of authorial ownership had not yet developed enough to protect the author's text from changes or from borrowing from other works.

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.

We often talk about the internal patterns of development of literary images in works of new literature and that the actions of heroes are determined by their characters. Each hero of new literature reacts in his own way to the influences of the outside world. That is why the actions of the characters may even be “unexpected” for the authors, as if dictated to the authors by the characters themselves.

A similar conditionality exists in ancient literature. The hero behaves as he is supposed to behave, but he is supposed to behave not according to laws of a natural nature, but according to the laws of the category of heroes to which the hero belongs in feudal society. For example, an ideal commander should be pious and should pray before going on a campaign. And in “The Life of Alexander Nevsky” it is described how Alexander enters the Church of Sophia and prays with tears to God to grant him victory. The ideal commander must defeat a numerous enemy with few forces, and he is helped by God.

The writers of Ancient Rus' had a very definite attitude towards the depiction of a person. The main thing is not external beauty, the beauty of the face and body, but the beauty of the soul.

In the ideas of the ancient Russians, the bearer of absolute, ideal beauty was only the Lord God. Man is His creation, a creature of God. The beauty of a person depends on how fully the Divine principle is expressed in him, that is, his ability to desire to follow the commandments of the Lord, to work on improving his soul.

How more people worked on this, the more he seemed to be illuminated from within by the inner light that God sent him as his Grace. The rich spiritual life of any person could create a miracle: make the ugly beautiful. This requires a righteous, pious lifestyle (especially through prayer, repentance, and fasting). This means that the Spiritual sphere was perceived, first of all, aesthetically; they saw the highest beauty in her. She didn't need physical beauty.

The ideal of man in Ancient Rus' was primarily considered to be holy ascetics, who were seen as direct intermediaries between sinful man and the divine sphere. Each era had its heroes. Using the example of several works, we will consider how the theme of man and his deeds developed in ancient Russian literature. But first, let us consider the periodization of the history of ancient Russian literature.

1. Periodization of the history of ancient Russian literature

Literature accompanies Russian reality, Russian history in a huge stream, following on its heels. Fearing lies, writers base their works on documents, which they consider to be all previous writing.

The literature of Ancient Rus' is evidence of life. That is why history itself, to a certain extent, establishes the periodization of literature.

In the second half of the 15th century, new phenomena were discovered in Russian literature: works of translated literature became widespread, and journalism developed.

2. Man in the literature of ancient Rus'

Two lives were written on the plot of the martyrdom of Boris and Gleb. The author of one of them, “Readings about the life and destruction of Boris and Gleb,” is the chronicler Nestor. The creation of the church cult of Boris and Gleb pursued two goals. Firstly, the canonization of the first Russian saints raised the ecclesiastical authority of Rus'. Secondly, he affirmed the state idea, according to which all Russian princes are brothers, and at the same time emphasized the obligatory “conquest” of the younger princes by the elders.

Nestor's "reading" indeed contains all the elements of the canonical life: it begins with an extensive introduction, with an explanation of the reasons why the author decides to begin work on the life, with a brief summary of world history from Adam to the baptism of Rus'. In the hagiography itself, Nestor talks about the childhood years of Boris and Gleb, about the piety that distinguished the brothers in childhood and youth; in the story of their death, the hagiographic element is even stronger: they are preparing to accept death as a solemn suffering destined for them from birth. In "Reading", in accordance with the requirements of the genre, there is also a story about miracles performed after the death of saints, about the miraculous "discovery" of their relics, about the healing of the sick at their tomb.

Thus, Saints Boris

S and Gleb entered Russian literature as people who honored Christian covenants.

Another work of the hagiographic genre can be considered “The Tale of the Life of Alexander Nevsky,” written, as suggested by D.S. Likhachev, Metropolitan Kirill between 1263 - 1280.

The characteristics of Alexander Nevsky in the work are diverse. In accordance with the canons of life, his “church virtues” are emphasized. And at the same time, Alexander, majestic and beautiful in appearance. A courageous and invincible commander. In his military actions, Alexander is swift, selfless and merciless. Having received news of the Swedes coming to the Neva. Alexander “inflamed in heart”, “with a small squad” he rushes towards the enemy. Alexander's swiftness and military leadership are characteristic of all episodes that speak of the prince's military exploits. Here he appears as an epic hero.

For the author, Alexander is not only a hero-commander and a wise statesman, but also a man whose military valor and statesmanship he admires. For the enemies of the Russian land, the prince is terrible and merciless. This is the ideal of a wise prince - ruler and commander. Until the 16th century, “The Tale of the Life of Alexander Nevsky” was a kind of standard for depicting Russian princes when describing their military exploits.

I can't help but tell you about one more outstanding personality ancient Rus'. Vladimir Monomakh is a prominent statesman who firmly guards the interests of the Russian land, a man of great intelligence and literary talent. He earned devoted love for himself and great respect from his contemporaries and posterity.

Under the year 1096, in the “Tale of Bygone Years” according to the Laurentian list, the “Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh is placed, combined with his letter to Prince Oleg of Chernigov. The “Instruction” was addressed by Monomakh to his children and continued with his autobiography. In his “Instructions”, Vladimir Monomakh appears as a wise man with great life experience, a noble, humanely minded person, always thinking about the good of his state, calling for the protection of the weak from the strong and those in power. At the same time, he is an energetic, enterprising prince, endowed with military virtues, who spends his entire life in tireless labor and in dangerous military campaigns. When ambassadors from his brothers come to him with a proposal to join forces to expel the Rostislavichs from their inheritance and take away their volost, he refuses to do this because he does not want to break the oath of the cross. He advises taking an oath only if the swearer can keep it, but having sworn, one must keep the promise so as not to destroy his soul.

Monomakh especially persistently advises to protect all the disadvantaged and calls for descent even in relation to criminals. The old should be revered as fathers, and the young as brothers.

Monomakh calls his children to an active life, to constant work and convinces them never to remain in laziness or indulge in debauchery. You can’t rely on anyone, you need to get involved in everything yourself and supervise everything so that no trouble happens.

By listing many of his “paths” and “fishings” (hikes and hunts), Monomakh means by personal example to teach his children and all those who read his “letter”, which was written not only for the prince’s children.

Vladimir Monomakh condemns civil strife, strives to mitigate feudal exploitation, which reached cruel forms in the 11th century, and to establish firm and unified power in Rus'.

Monomakh does not seek to compose a complete biography in his “Instructions”, but conveyed only a chain of examples from his life, which he considered instructive. This ability to choose from one’s life that which is not of personal, but of civic interest, is the uniqueness of Monomakh’s autobiography.

Monomakh's review appears in the "Instruction" as if against his will, which achieves special artistic persuasiveness. Subsequently, Vladimir Monomakh was idealized by Russian chronicles.

For posterity, the “Instruction” was a kind of reference book in moral education.

The 17th century entered Russian literature as “rebellious.” Riots and rebellions reflected the irreconcilable social contradictions of pre-Petrine Rus'. This was also the culture of the 17th century, which had lost that external unity, that relative monolithicity that was characteristic of the Middle Ages. Fiction remains anonymous. The share of original works has increased. Literature of the lower classes appeared. These lower classes - the poor clergy, clerks, literate peasantry - began to speak in an independent and free language of parody and satire.

Among the translated and original short stories are stories and legends.

“The Tale of Karp Sutulov” has come down to us in a single copy, which is now lost (the collection in which the story was included was divided into separate notebooks; some of them have not survived). The Russian merchant Karp Sutulov, going on a trading trip, instructs his wife Tatyana, if necessary, to ask for money from his friend, Afanasy Berdov, also a merchant. In response to Tatyana's request, her husband's unworthy friend seeks her love. Tatyana goes for advice to the priest, who turns out to be no better than Afanasy Berdov, then to the bishop. But even in this archpastor, who gave the dinner of chastity, a sinful passion flared up. Tatiana pretends to give in and makes appointments for all three of them at home. The first is Afanasy Berdov. When the priest knocks on the gate, Tatyana tells Afanasy that it is her husband who has returned and hides the first guest in a chest. In the same way, she gets rid of the priest and the bishop - in the latter case, the culprit of the commotion turns out to be the maid she persuaded. The matter ends with the disgraced seekers being removed from the chests in the voivode's courtyard.

This is a typical fairy-tale short story with slow action, with repeated repetitions, with a folklore three-part construction - and an unexpected, entertaining ending: the shaming of the harassers is followed by the division of money between the “strict” governor and the “pious” Tatyana. The Russian flavor of the novella is only a superficial layering. The Sutulovs and Berdovs really belong to the eminent merchant families of pre-Petrine Rus'. Tatiana's husband goes "to buy his own land in Lithuania" - the usual merchant route for Russia in the 17th century to Vilna. The action takes place in the voivode's courtyard - this is also a Russian reality. However, all these realities do not affect the plot structure. Names and Russian circumstances are the scenes of the action; they can easily be eliminated and replaced, and we get a “general” transitory plot, not necessarily connected with Russian urban life of the 17th century. According to the plot, "The Tale of Karp Sutulov" is a typical picaresque short story in the spirit of Boccaccio.

The image of the heroine in “The Tale of Karp Sutulov” is reminiscent of the heroines of Russian literature of the 19th century: Pushkin’s Tatyana, Turgenev’s Asya and others, for whom loyalty to her husband, sincerity and honesty were above all.

Conclusion

The entire historical and literary process of the 11th - early 17th centuries is a process of the formation of literature, but literature that exists not for itself, but for society.

The originality of ancient Russian literature lies not only in the nature of its individual works, but also in its special path of development - a path closely connected with Russian history, which met the needs of Russian reality. Ancient Russian literature has always been occupied with broad social problems.

These are mainly war heroes, armed defenders of the homeland, or rulers of ancient principalities. Even women were glorified for their courage, loyalty to warriors and mercilessness towards enemies.

There were, however, heroes in Rus' whose deeds can be spoken of not as a feat, but as asceticism, modest but everyday. This was Archpriest Avvakum.

The scope of this work does not allow us to talk about all the heroes of ancient Russian literature. It is important to note that the writers of Ancient Rus' had a very definite attitude towards the depiction of a person. The main thing is not external beauty, but the beauty of the soul. This is exactly what we tried to show by selecting several works from seven hundred years of ancient Russian literature.

List of used literature

1. Gudziy N.K. History of ancient Russian literature Textbook. - M.: Aspect Press, 2002. - 592 p.

2. History of Russian literature of the 11th-17th centuries: A textbook for pedagogical students. in-tov; Ed. D.S. Likhacheva. - 2nd ed. - M.: Education, 1985. - 432 p. .

3. Tvorogov O.V. Literature of Ancient Rus'. - M., 1981.

4. Old Russian literature. Reader. Comp. A.L. Zhovtis. - 2nd ed., - M.: Higher School, 1966. - 345 p.

5. Panchenko A.M. Study of the poetry of Ancient Rus'. - In the book: Ways of studying ancient Russian literature and writing. - L., 1970.

www.litsoch.ru

What works of ancient Russian literature do you know from courses in grades 5, 6, 7, 8? Name the heroes of previously studied works of ancient Russian literature

To understand the meaning of these words, let us remember that in Ancient Rus' they spoke about the divine origin of the word, that almost all books were Christian, church books. Important Christian concepts are the concepts of sin (violation of God's commandments) and repentance (awareness of these sins, confession of them and prayer for forgiveness). The quote says that the divine wisdom of books helps a person to realize himself, his actions and sins and to repent of his sins before God, asking for forgiveness for them. The main idea of the passage about the benefits of book teaching is that reading books will help a person to join the Divine wisdom contained in these books. “Teaching of Vladimir Monomakh” Teaching is a genre of church eloquence. The teaching was used for direct edification and was delivered in the generally accessible, living, spoken Old Russian language. The teaching could be delivered by church leaders. The prince is a representative of the highest authority, consecrated by the church, he could pronounce or write a teaching. Vladimir Monomakh was the most authoritative Russian prince at the turn of the 19th and 19th centuries, many times he led all-Russian campaigns against the Polovtsians, and was a mediator in conflicts. In 1097, on the initiative of Monomakh, the princes gathered for a congress in Lyubech to stop the strife. However, this was not possible. In 1113, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich, who was then the prince of Kyiv, died. The people of Kiev invited Vladimir Monomakh to reign, who enjoyed the well-deserved reputation of a major commander and guardian of the Russian land. Monomakh became the Grand Duke, bypassing seniority, which violated the order of inheritance that had developed by that time. He was on the Kiev throne in 1113-1125 and took care to calm the worried population. It was according to his charter that the purchasing situation was eased and debt slavery was prohibited. The teaching compiled by Vladimir Monomakh, addressed mainly to his own children, calls on people, first of all, to fulfill the commandments that Christ left people: do not kill, do not return evil for evil, fulfill their vows, not to be proud, not to harm people, to respect elders, to help the unfortunate and wretched. Next to the instructions that fully correspond to the commandments of Jesus Christ, we find pure practical advice: do not remove weapons in a hurry, do not trample other people’s crops, receive ambassadors with honor, study foreign languages . We can say that all the advice of Vladimir Monomakh remains important in our time. The advice: “do not let the youths harm either your own or strangers, or villages, or crops” is associated with the frequent travels of Vladimir Monomakh and his warriors (“youths” ) on Russian soil, where you had to be careful and pay attention to the land you were passing through. Advice: “give drink and feed the one who asks,” “don’t forget the poor” - are associated with the Christian commandment to help those who ask for help, the poor, the needy , the weak, the crippled, showing sympathy and compassion. “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” is a work of the hagiographic genre. Lives of saints are descriptions of the lives of clergy and secular persons canonized by the Christian Church. The modern and ancient Russian meanings of the word “story” are different. In Ancient Rus', this is not a genre definition of a work: “story” means “narration.” The genre of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” is hagiography. In the middle of the 16th century, the writer Ermolai-Erasmus wrote this life about the Murom princes, about whom only folk legends have survived. This life, like other lives, consists of three parts. As a work of Christian culture, the life of Peter and Fevronia of Murom is dedicated to the life of the prince and princess “in God” and is imbued with a feeling of love for people, which is called the main virtue in the Gospel. The actions of the heroes are also dictated by other virtues - courage and humility. “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” is an encrypted text. We need to decipher this text in order to understand what our ancestors thought when reading this unusual life. Part 1. Prince Peter kills the serpent. The serpent in life is the devil, “hating the human race from time immemorial,” the tempter. The devil causes a person to sin, makes him doubt the existence and power of God. Temptation and doubt can be countered by faith: Peter finds a sword for fighting the serpent in the altar wall (the altar is the main part of the church). Peter kills the snake, but the enemy’s blood gets onto his body. This is a symbol of the fact that doubt creeps into the prince’s soul; illness is confusion of spirit. Doubt is a sin, and the prince needs a doctor, that is, a deeply religious person, who will help get rid of doubts and cleanse his soul of sin. This ends the first story. Part 2. Virgin Fevronia treats Prince Peter. Virgin Fevronia says to the prince: “My father and brother are tree climbers, in the forest they collect wild honey from the trees”: honey is a symbol of divine wisdom. The prince's servant calls the peasant woman a virgin, as women who dedicated themselves to God were called. “He can heal him who demands your prince for himself...”: the prince represents the highest power on earth, and only the Lord can demand him. Conditions for the prince’s recovery: “If he is kind-hearted and not arrogant, then. will be healthy.” The prince showed pride: he placed the external - earthly power - above the spiritual, hidden inside; he lied to Fevronia that he would take her as his wife. Fevronia treated the prince with the help of symbolic objects. The vessel is a symbol of man: man is the vessel of God. Bread leaven: bread is a symbol of the Church of Christ. The bathhouse is cleansing from sins. From one unanointed scab, ulcers began to spread throughout the prince’s body again, since one sin gives rise to another, one doubt gives rise to unbelief.

The concept of “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 of artistic creativity and emotional reflection of modern life.

The overwhelming majority of ancient 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. The literature of Ancient Rus' was 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 the personal preferences and literary abilities of the copyists. 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 in the rarest cases We have author's lists of monuments, and very often in later lists we have texts 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 Old Russian manuscripts are available in large libraries in different cities, archives, and museums. Many works are preserved in a large number of lists, and many in a very limited number. 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 the historical destinies of the country. All the time there was a kind of struggle between living reality, the creative individuality of the 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. At the heart of the “Tale of Bygone Years”, which includes both a story about world history and year-by-year records about events in Russia, 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. The study of lists of Old Russian texts makes it possible to restore the unpreserved titles of the literary history of Old Russian works. XI century The first Russian lives also date back (of princes Boris and Gleb, abbot of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Theodosius). These lives are distinguished by literary perfection, attention to pressing problems of our time, and the vitality of many episodes. Maturity of political thought, patriotism, journalisticism, and high literary skill are also characterized by the monuments of oratorical 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). 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 Grand Duke Kiev Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, to whom a lot of attention is paid in the Lay, and the Russian people, the Russian land. In many ways, “The Lay” is associated with the literary traditions of its time, but, as a work of genius, it is distinguished by a number of features unique 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 oral techniques. 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 importance 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 tragic events 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 depict human feelings. In the 2nd half of the 15th - early 16th centuries. stories appear, the plot of which goes back to oral stories 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; at the same time, social motives are acute 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 and is distinguished by artistic perfection and bright individuality.

In the 16th century the official character of literature intensifies, its distinctive feature becomes pomp and solemnity. Works of a general nature, 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 advice on housekeeping, and the 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. Fiction is increasingly penetrating historical narratives, making the narrative more interesting. 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 pure ones arise literary genres, the process of democratization of literature is underway, its topics are significantly expanding. Events of the Time of Troubles and the Peasant War at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. 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. A wider circle of people began to engage in literary work. The so-called posad literature is born, which is created and exists in a democratic environment. A genre of democratic satire emerges, in which state and church orders are ridiculed: legal proceedings are parodied (“The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court”), church service(“Service to the tavern”), Holy Bible(“The Tale of a Peasant Son”), office work practice (“The Tale of Ersha Ershovich”, “Kalyazin Petition”). The nature of the lives is also changing, which are increasingly becoming real biographies. 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 of the author, but for its equally vivid and passionate depiction of the social and ideological struggle of its 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 knightly 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 popular popular 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.

Description of the work: “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”, “Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh”, etc. These works belong to Old Russian literature. The literature of antiquity is based on real events and reflects Rus', its position at one time or another. Old Russian literature reflects the character of Rus' and its inhabitants. It, like the history of Rus', contains information about its relationships with other countries and within the country. This literature is rich in discussions about kings, princes and the common people. We simply must protect and study its riches.

Russian literature is a thousand years old. We know our great classical writers well, but we know little about our literature of the first seven centuries. Every Russian person knows only “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” well. Meanwhile our ancient literature rich in works of various genres. The chronicles told about the history of our country, starting from ancient, pre-literate times and ending with the events of the turbulent 17th century. Biographies (“lives”) told about the lives of individual people. In ancient Russian literature there are works of oratory, descriptions of travel (“walkings”) to the East or Western Europe, journalistic works aimed at eradicating social evil and injustice, calling for truth and goodness. There are a number of so-called “military stories” dedicated to the struggle of the Russian people against foreign enemies: the Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Mongol-Tatars, German knights. Stories telling about princely civil strife and crimes have been preserved. These stories are full of pain for the untruth, for the suffering brought to people and the entire country. In the 17th century, stories of a domestic nature appeared. At the end of the same century, dramatic and poetic works appeared.

Old Russian literature, as you can see, is rich in written monuments. She was even richer. After all, of its entire treasury, only a small part has reached us; the rest was destroyed in fires, plundered by enemies, perished from storage in damp rooms, due to the negligence and indifference of people.

We consider ancient Russian literature to be especially significant because it contains features that are consonant with our era. The works of our antiquity are marked by high citizenship and sincere love for the motherland. Writers, separated from us by many centuries, were proud of the greatness of Rus', its vastness, beauty, the “bright lightness and red decoration” of its fields and forests, the “audacity” of the Russian people, and high moral qualities. The true patriotism of ancient Russian authors was also manifested in the fact that they boldly wrote about the shortcomings and crimes of the princes.

The works of Ancient Rus' captivate with their chastity and purity. Old Russian literature does not dwell on descriptions of atrocities and does not cherish the dream of retribution against enemies. She calls for the sublime, the good. In it we find noble ideals. Almost every writer of Ancient Rus' could, like A. S. Pushkin, say about himself that he aroused “good feelings” with his work. He could declare, together with N.A. Nekrasov, that he “sowed the reasonable, the good, the eternal.” Therefore, the works of ancient Russian authors so vividly respond to our time and the growing need for goodness and kindness in our country.

Ancient Russian literature, as well as Russian literature in general, is characterized by life-affirmation, lightness and clarity. Let's take for example. The most tragic “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”. What could be more terrible! The army was defeated, all the princes were killed on the battlefield, the city was taken, plundered, burned, almost all the inhabitants were killed. All that was left was “smoke, earth and ashes.” But there is no despair, no despondency in the story. Crying for the Russian princes, glorifying their valor, pride in the fact that there were such princes. And the story ends with a major chord: one of the Ryazan princes, who accidentally survived, arrives, pays tribute to the murdered, buries them with honor, gathers the surviving residents, restores the city, and everything ends with general pacification. This fortitude is amazing.

Another property of ancient Russian literature is especially attractive in our time: ancient Russian writers treated other peoples, their customs, and their beliefs with deep respect. Tolerance is manifested in the relationship between the Russian governor Pritech and the Pecheneg prince in the Tale of Bygone Years, in the Tale of the Emshan Grass, which conveys the Polovtsian tradition, in the sermons of the Bishop of Vladimir Serapion, who wrote about the torment of the Russian people under Tatar oppression, lamented the loss of the former glory of Rus' and at the same time spoke about the moral virtues of the Tatars. Respect for other peoples, sympathy for their troubles sounds with particular force in “Walking across Three Seas” by Afanasy Nikitin.

Even in stories describing the fight against enemies, for example in “The Tale of Mamaev’s Massacre,” the author notes combat prowess enemies and considers both Russians and Tatars to be children of one mother Earth. The admiration for the courage of enemies in “Kazan History”, a work dedicated to the centuries-old struggle of Russians with the people of Kazan, sounds absolutely amazing.

In the new Russian literature of the 18th-20th centuries, the best traditions of ancient literature continue. However, ancient literature has its own characteristics that distinguish it from the literature of modern times.

In the art of the word of modern times, we are dealing with individual authors, and ancient literature, although it retained a number of names of writers - Hilarion, Nestor, Kirill of Turovsky and many others - was generally a collective work. If in modern times works of classical literature are published in the form in which the author wrote them, then the works of ancient writers have been changed over the centuries by different copyists. Each new copyist either shortened the text somewhat, or sought to “embellish” the presentation, or changed the overall focus of the work. He adapted the work of his predecessor to the literary taste and ideological requirements of his time. This is how new types arose, or, as they say, editions of the same monument. This situation is close to oral folk art: each narrator sang the same epic in a different way, adding or omitting something.

In all new editions, the monuments of ancient Russian literature lived on, retaining the main original features and acquiring new ones. Rare monuments have survived to us in the form in which they were first written, most of them came down to us in later correspondence, “lists”.

Old Russian literature, unlike modern literature, did not have fictional characters or plots. Ancient stories always featured historical figures and described historical events. Even if the author introduced the miraculous and fantastic into his narrative, it was not a conscious fiction, because the writer himself and his readers believed in the veracity of what was being described. Conscious fiction appeared only in the literature of the 17th century. And even then, as a rule, he hid behind references to historical events. Thus, the fictional hero of one of the stories of the 17th century, Savva Grudtsyn, appears in the Russian army of the boyar Shein, who besieged Smolensk.

We are used to the works we read being entertaining. Entertaining for us is mainly associated only with the rapid development of a complex plot. The writers of Ancient Rus', of course, also sought to interest the reader. But their plot is simple, the story is told calmly, not hastily.

The people of Ancient Rus' read books earnestly, slowly, rereading the same work several times, reverently looking for instructions, advice, or images of significant events from the history of their country or other countries. It is not for nothing that books have been figuratively compared to the depths of the sea, and the reader - to a pearl diver.

One of the achievements of modern literature was that it began to depict the everyday, that its characters were the same people as each of us. In ancient Russian literature there are no simple characters, there are heroes who perform great feats on the battlefield and moral improvement.

Like folklore, literature dwelled only on exceptional events; it did not condescend to the reader, but sought to raise him to its heights.

In ancient literature there were no poems, but there was poetry. Only the imagery of this poetry is different than in modern times, we need to get used to it, understand it. The images appeared as if by themselves. We would say: “I’ll come in the spring,” and a man of the 11th-17th centuries wrote: “I’ll arrive as soon as the leaves dawn on the trees.” Ancient authors did not write that someone did a lot for their homeland, they wrote: “He lost a lot of sweat for his homeland”; we would say: “The enemies fled,” and the ancient scribe wrote: “They showed their shoulders.” They loved hyperbole: the name of Alexander Nevsky, according to his biographer, was glorified “throughout all countries to the Sea of Egypt and to the mountains of Ararat.” Old Russian authors often resorted to comparisons: warriors were compared to falcons, flying arrows to rain, enemies to ferocious beasts.

In ancient Russian works you will find many examples of rhythmic speech.

The poetry of ancient Russian literature is largely due to its closeness to oral folk art. In our time, literature and folklore are strictly separated. Writers of the 18th-20th centuries turn to folklore, but never become storytellers. In ancient Russian literature it was different. Writers, like storytellers, created epic works. Not only the initial tales of the “Tale of Bygone Years” are epic, based on oral traditions - about Oleg, Igor, Olga, Vladimir, about the young man-kozhemyak and Belgorod wells. Later works of the 15th, 16th, and even 17th centuries are also epic. Many narratives that are examples of high rhetoric organically include epic parts. This is the story about Evpatiy Kolovrat in “The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu”, about six brave men in “The Life of Alexander Nevsky”. Folk songs are woven into the fabric of many works, for example, in “The Tale of Prince Skopin-Shuisky.” The “Tale of Woe-Misfortune” is based on the literary basis of a lyrical song. And what beautiful folk laments can be found in chronicles and stories! In addition to laments, glorifications—“glories”—are also heard in literature. Ritual in origin, pagan poetry was a living source to which writers turned all the time.

There is no need to exaggerate the importance of oral folk art in the literature of Ancient Rus'. Despite its closeness to folklore, it was written literature (the word “literature” comes from the Latin “litera” - letter), and the literature was very high, skillful, and artistic. It arose back in the 10th century along with the adoption of Christianity under the influence of the needs of the church and state.

With the adoption of Christianity (988) from Slavic Bulgaria, which was experiencing a cultural dawn at that time, books were brought to Rus'. Some books were copied into Bulgarian. The Old Bulgarian language, called Church Slavonic in Rus', because liturgical books were written in it, was close to Old Russian and was well understood by Russian readers of that time. The Church Slavonic language, flexible and subtle, capable of expressing the most complex abstract ideas, extremely enriched the ancient Russian language and made it more expressive. Synonyms still live in our language: Russian-eyes, Slavic-eyes, etc. Western Catholic countries were united by Latin, Slavic countries - by the Church Slavonic language. From the end of the 10th to the beginning of the 11th century, translated books of a wide variety of genres, styles and purposes appeared in Rus'. There are biblical historical books, Byzantine chronicles, and lyrical chants, sometimes joyful, sometimes full of sorrow and sadness. Collections of works of oratory that were part of the art of eloquence of antiquity, and collections of aphorisms appeared. Natural history and history books were brought to Rus'.

In the first half of the 11th century, “words” (speeches) appeared in Rus'. From the forties of the 11th century, the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, remarkable for its harmony and elaborate oratorical techniques, has been preserved. Hilarion was a “Rusin” (Russian) by birth, a priest of the country church of the Savior in the village of Berestovo near Kiev (this church has survived to this day). Yaroslav the Wise appointed him metropolitan, head of the entire Russian church. In “The Sermon on Law and Grace,” delivered in the presence of Yaroslav the Wise and his family, Hilarion gives a unique overview of world history and asserts the equality of “new people,” that is, Russians recently introduced to Christianity, with the rest of the peoples of the Christian world.

The pinnacle of literature of the 12th century is “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - a work typical of this century, when the art of speech reached a high development, and the consciousness of the need to preserve the unity of the Russian land was especially strong.

We do not know the names of the authors of the tales about Oleg’s campaigns, Olga’s baptism, or Svyatoslav’s wars. The first known author of a literary work in Rus' was the priest of the princely church in Berestov, later Metropolitan Hilarion. In the early 40s of the 11th century, he created his famous “Sermon on Law and Grace.” It talks about the Church of the Annunciation on the Golden Gate, built in 1037, and mentions Irina (Ingigerda), the wife of Yaroslav the Wise, who died in 1050. The word introduces us to the struggle of religious and political ideas of the 11th century. Hilarion speaks in it about the baptism of Rus' and praises Vladimir, who baptized the Russian land: “Let us praise our teacher and mentor, the great Khagan of our land, Vladimir, the grandson of old Igor, the son of the glorious Svyatoslav, who in his years ruled, having listened with courage and bravery in in many countries they are now remembered for their victories and strength. It’s not in the worst of battles, not in the unknown that the land has dominion, but in Russia, which is known and heard, there is a land of all ends.” Hilarion appeals to Vladimir to look at the greatness of Kyiv under Yaroslav, who “covered the glorious city of Kyiv with majesty like a crown.” These words, apparently, should be understood as an indication of the newly built and majestic fortifications that surrounded the capital of the Kyiv princes. In the second half of the 11th century, other striking literary and journalistic works appeared: “Memory and Praise of Vladimir” by the monk Jacob, in which Hilarion’s ideas are further developed and applied to the historical figure of Vladimir I. At the same time, “The Legend of the Initial Spread of Christianity in Russia”, “The Legend of Boris and Gleb”, patron saints and defenders of the Russian land.

In the last quarter of the 11th century, the monk Nestor began to work on his writings. The chronicle was his final fundamental work. Before that, he created the famous “Reading about the Life of Boris and Gleb.” In it, as in Hilarion’s “Word”, as later in the Tale of Bygone Years, the ideas of the unity of Rus' are heard, and tribute is paid to its defenders and guardians. Already at that time, Russian authors were worried about this growing political hostility in the Russian lands, in which they discerned a harbinger of a future political catastrophe.

The literature of the 12th century continues the traditions of Russian writings of the 11th century. New ecclesiastical and secular works are being created, marked by a vivid form, richness of thoughts, and broad generalizations; new genres of literature emerge.

In his declining years, Vladimir Monomakh wrote his famous “Instruction for Children,” which became one of the favorite readings of the Russian people of the early Middle Ages. The teaching clearly depicts for us the life of Russian princes at the end of the 11th – beginning of the 12th centuries. Vladimir Monomakh talks about his campaigns and travels. His whole life was spent in continuous wars, either with the Poles, or with the Polovtsians, or with hostile princes. He counts 83 large campaigns, not counting small ones, as well as 19 peace treaties with the Cumans. To characterize feudal ideology, the image of the ideal prince depicted by Monomakh is interesting. The prince must monitor everything in the house, and not rely on the tiun or the warrior (“youth”), so as not to laugh at the order in the house and at dinner. During military campaigns, one must avoid excess food and drink, as well as long periods of sleep. By nightfall, appoint guards yourself, Monomakh teaches, and, having arranged the army around you, go to bed and get up early; and do not quickly take off your weapons without looking, out of laziness, “suddenly a person dies.” The prince's life is filled with wars and hunting, death follows on the warrior's heels. And this knightly ideology is perfectly expressed by the words of Monomakh addressed to his second cousin Oleg Svyatoslavovich of Chernigov. Monomakh offers him peace and friendship and promises not to avenge the death of his son, killed in battle with Oleg: “Isn’t it amazing that my husband died in the regiment” (is it surprising that a warrior died during the battle). Teaching gives a lot historical information missing from the chronicle, it is a valuable historical source.

At the beginning of the 12th century, one of Monomakh’s associates, Abbot Daniel, created his own, no less famous, “Hegumen Daniel’s Walk to Holy Places.”

The pious Russian man went to the Holy Sepulcher and made a long and difficult journey - to Constantinople, then through the islands of the Aegean Sea to the island of Crete, from there to Palestine and to Jerusalem, where at that time the first crusader state was founded, led by King Baldwin. Daniel described in detail his entire journey, spoke about his stay at the court of the King of Jerusalem, about the campaign with him against the Arabs. Daniel prayed at the Holy Sepulcher, placed there a lamp from the entire Russian land: near the tomb of Christ he sang fifty liturgies “for the Russian princes and for all Christians.”

Both “Teaching” and “Walking” were the first genres of their kind in Russian literature.

XII – early XIII century. They gave many other bright religious and secular works that added to the treasury of Russian culture. Among them are “The Word” and “Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik, who, having been in captivity and having experienced a number of other everyday dramas, reflects on the meaning of life, on a harmonious person, on ideal ruler. In the “Word” the author himself calls himself Daniel the prisoner, that is, a prisoner, exiled. The word is addressed to Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich. The Message (Prayer) is addressed to Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich.

The word gives an interesting characterization of feudal relations in the 12th century. First of all, what is striking is the indication of the importance of the personality of the prince as a feudal sovereign, to whom, depending on his personal qualities, “servants” - vassals - gather: “The psaltery is formed by fingers, and the body is based on veins; oak is strong with many roots; so is our city your dominion. The prince is generous, the father has many servants: many people leave their father and mother and resort to him. By serving a good master, you will earn a settlement, and by serving an evil master, you will earn more work.” The prince is famous for those who surround him: “The pavoloka (expensive fabric) is speckled with many silks and reds, your face shows: so you, prince, are honest and glorious with many people in all countries.” The word of Daniil Zatochnik is a most valuable source for studying the class struggle in ancient Russian society. It repeatedly emphasizes the antagonism of rich and poor. The word clearly characterizes the order of the patrimony of the period of feudal fragmentation: do not have a courtyard near the king’s court, exclaims Daniel, and do not keep a village near the prince’s village; His thiun is like a covered fire, and his “rank and file” are like sparks. If you guard against fire, then you cannot “guard yourself” from sparks and from burning clothes. The word of Daniel the Sharper is woven from a number of aphorisms and teachings. It was this feature that made him very popular in medieval Rus'.

In the Word we also encounter a constant theme in many ancient Russian works - about evil wives. The ascetic nature of church writing contributed to the view of a woman as a “vessel of the devil.” Here are a few of the Sharpener’s attacks against malicious wives: if any husband looks at the beauty of his wife and her kind and flattering words, but does not check her deeds, then God forbid he had better have a fever. Or in another place: “What is the wife of evil - an irresistible inn, a demonic blasphemer. What is an evil wife? Worldly rebellion, blindness of the mind, the master of all malice,” etc.

No less interesting is the second work associated with Daniil Zatochnik, the so-called Epistle (Prayer). The message begins with an appeal to Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who researchers consider to be Pereyaslavl, and later Grand Duke Yaroslav, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest. The message is extremely interesting in its social orientation. The author paints for us the appearance of a prince from the era of feudal fragmentation, which harmonizes well with the biography of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, a warlike, intelligent and at the same time cruel prince: “The people are wise, strong and their cities are strong; The brave ones are strong and crazy: for them there is victory. Many people take up arms against large cities and attack their own, smaller ones.” In this description of the prince one can involuntarily feel historical features. Such was Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who chased the Novgorod table and often lost it. In the Epistle we read an unusually harsh review of monastic life: “Or you will say, prince: take monastic vows. So I didn’t see a dead man riding a pig, not a damn woman, I didn’t eat figs from oak trees. After all, many, having departed from this world into monasticism, return again to worldly life and to the worldly race, like dogs to their vomit: they go around the villages and houses of the glorious houses of this world, like caressing dogs. Where there are weddings and feasts, there are monks and monks and lawlessness. They wear an angelic image on themselves, but they have a dissolute disposition and a holy rank, but their customs are obscene.”

Addressing his prince in “Prayer,” Daniel says that a real man must combine the strength of Samson, the courage of Alexander the Great, the intelligence of Joseph, the wisdom of Solomon, and the cunning of David. Appeal to biblical stories and ancient history helps him convey his ideas to the addressee. A person, according to the author, must strengthen his heart with beauty and wisdom, help his neighbor in sorrow, show mercy to those in need, and resist evil. The humanistic line of ancient Russian literature firmly asserts itself here too.

An interesting monument of the 12th century is the Epistle of Metropolitan Clement. Clement Smolyatich, originally from Smolensk, in 1147 was elected by a council of Russian bishops as metropolitan of All Rus' without the installation of a patriarch, while other metropolitans were appointed by the patriarch in Constantinople. “The message was written by Clement, Metropolitan of Russia, to Thomas the Presbyter, interpreted by Athanasius the Mnich” was preserved in a 15th-century manuscript. The authorship of Clement is attributed only to the first two parts, and the last to the monk Athanasius. The message provides interesting material for characterizing the education of Kievan Rus. The author turns to Thomas with a response to his message, which denounced Clement for being proud of his philosophical knowledge, since Clement made references to Homer, Aristotle and Plato in his writings. Averting reproaches of pride from himself, Clement at the same time attacks those bishops who add “house to house, village to village, expelling the siabrs, and the borti, and the reapers, and the lads and the ancients, from whom the accursed Klim greatly free.”

In his “Parable of the Human Soul” (late 12th century), Bishop Kirill of Turov, relying on the Christian worldview, gives his interpretation of the meaning of human existence and discusses the need for a constant connection between soul and body. At the same time, in his “Parable” he raises questions that are quite topical for Russian reality, reflects on the relationship between church and secular authorities, defends the national-patriotic idea of the unity of the Russian land, which was especially important, while the Vladimir-Suzdal princes began to implement centralization policy on the eve of the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

Simultaneously with these works, where religious and secular motives were constantly intertwined, copyists in monasteries, churches, princely and boyar houses diligently copied church service books, prayers, collections of church traditions, biographies of saints, and ancient theological literature. All this wealth of religious and theological thought also formed an integral part of general Russian culture.

But, of course, the most vivid synthesis of Russian culture, the interweaving of pagan and Christian features, religious and secular, universal and national motives in it was heard in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The Word tells about the campaign of the Seversky princes in 1185, led by Prince Igor Svyatoslavovich, against the Polovtsians. Shortly before this, the Severn princes refused to participate in the campaign against the Polovtsians, which was undertaken by their relative, the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. From the very beginning, the participants in the campaign were confused by bad omens - an eclipse of the sun occurred. However, the princes decided to move on. The first battle was successful for the Russians. But soon things took a different turn. The Polovtsians defeated the Russian troops, and Igor Svyatoslavovich was captured, from which he escaped with the help of a certain Ovlur.

The story of Igor's regiment perfectly depicts princely relations at the end of the 12th century. What stands out in particular is the power of two princes, who in strength are on a par with Svyatoslav of Kyiv or even higher than him. This is the Galician prince Yaroslav Osmomysl and Vsevolod the Big Nest. Yaroslav sits high on his gold-plated table, he propped up the Carpathian (Hungarian) mountains with his iron regiments, closing the path for the Hungarian king and closing the Danube Gate for him, dominating all the way to the Danube. “Your thunderstorms flow across the lands, shooting a hundred gold from the Saltani table beyond the lands. Shoot, sir, Konchak, that filthy bastard, for the Russian land, for the wounds of Igor, my dear Svyatoslavovich.” This praise of Yaroslav Galitsky is confirmed in the chronicle. He was a wise, eloquent, God-fearing prince, revered in other lands, glorious in battles, we read in the chronicle about Yaroslav of Galicia.

The Vladimir-Suzdal prince Vsevolod the Big Nest seems no less powerful for the singer of the Word. He addresses him with the words: “You can sprinkle the Volga with oars, and pour out the Don with helmets.” If we remember that the Tale of Igor’s Campaign was compiled in southern Rus', then such princely characteristics acquire special meaning for us. They show the true balance of power between the princes of feudal Rus' at the end of the 12th century, when the Galicia-Volyn and Vladimir-Suzdal lands became especially strong.

“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” has another remarkable feature. Created in an era of feudal fragmentation, it nevertheless testifies to the unity of the Russian people. The entire content of the Word about Igor's Campaign rests on the idea that the Russian land can fight against the Polovtsian raids only as a single whole. A constant refrain is patriotic words, full of ardent love for the homeland, about the Russian land hidden behind the hills (“Oh, Russian land, you are already behind the shelomyan”).

The word unusually vividly depicts feudal strife and discord among the princes, mourning the fact that they are weakening the Russian land.

“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is of great interest for studying the beliefs of ancient Rus'. Nature is personified in Yaroslavna’s cry: “Oh the wind! – Yaroslavna turns to the wind. - “Why, sir, did you force yourself? Why do the Khinov arrows moo on their easy wings in my own way? You never know how grief blows under the clouds, cherishing ships on the blue sea.” The Dnieper River appears as the same living creature in Yaroslavna’s lament. She even calls him with his patronymic – Slovutich. The Word also mentions ancient Slavic deities. Bayan, named the grandson of Veles, god of livestock and abundance, patron of singers; Russians are the children of Dazhd-God, the great sun god.

Unlike other monuments of ancient Russian literature, The Tale of Igor's Campaign does not reflect church ideology. Only once is it mentioned the church of the Mother of God Pirogoshcha, to which Igor goes when returning to Kyiv.

The Word about Igor's Campaign included many legends unknown to us from other works. One of the sources for the author was Boyan’s songs, to which he refers. Boyan recalled “the first times of strife.” He sang songs about old Yaroslav, about the brave Mstislav, who stabbed Redea in front of the Kasozh regiments, about the beautiful Roman Svyatoslavovich.

We do not know the sources of the Word about Igor's Campaign. But its author undoubtedly used a large number of oral traditions. This is confirmed by many epithets that find analogies in monuments of oral literature: “golden table”, “golden stirrup”, “gray eagle”, “blue sea”, “green grass”, “sharp swords”, “open field”, “black crow".

A remarkable feature of the Tale of Igor's Campaign is its focus. While the chronicles preserved mainly the Kyiv tradition, the Tale of Igor's Campaign mainly reflects the Chernigov and Polotsk traditions. The singer's sympathies are with the Chernigov princes. He writes about the “resentment” of the Chernigov prince Oleg Svyatoslavovich, a young and brave prince expelled by Vladimir Monomakh from his principality. But Vladimir himself is depicted as a cowardly prince, covering his ears from the ringing of Oleg’s golden stirrups. The nickname “Gorislavich”, which the singer gives to Oleg, is an epithet denoting a person famous for his grief and misadventures.

The high artistic skill of “The Lay” is based not only on folk tradition, but also on Russian writing known to the author. It is impossible not to see what pearls the author selected in the chronicles and other works known to him! All this places “The Lay” next to the greatest monuments of Russian culture of the 12th century.

The development of literature in the 15th century was facilitated by the reduction in cost of writing material: at this time, instead of expensive parchment and specially treated calfskin, they began to use paper imported from the West.

Serious changes are taking place in the literary style of works. The upsurge that came after the Kulikovo victory led to the development of the so-called panegyric style: a lush and solemn style, ornate and complex; it was figuratively called “weaving words” (meaning that the authors weaved verbal wreaths to the glory of ascetics and warriors). The most sophisticated writer who worked in this direction was Epiphanius the Wise and Pachomius Logofet, a native of Serbia. Both were writers - professionals, connoisseurs of the art of words.

Such subtle and elegant works as “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” and “The Life of Sergei of Radonezh” date back to the 15th century.

For the history of literature, the “Degree Book” is of significant interest - a collection of biographies of the rulers of the Russian state. There are many legends in biographies, often of a romantic nature.

Interesting works of the mid-16th century include “Domostroy”; its creation is attributed to Sylvester, a priest of the Annunciation Church in the Kremlin.

Old Russian literature is valuable both for its own artistic achievements and for the fact that it prepared the emergence of great Russian literature of modern times. Knowledge of ancient Russian literature helps to more fully and deeply understand the literature of the 19th-20th centuries.

But the value of ancient Russian literature lies not only in this. For us, she is a pure and life-giving source, to which we turn in times of troubles and trials, “in days of doubt, in days painful thoughts", as well as in the era of recovery. We draw deep thoughts from it, find high ideals in it, beautiful images. Her faith in goodness and the victory of justice, her ardent patriotism strengthens and inspires us. M.V. Lomonosov called Russian chronicles “books of glorious deeds.” The same can be said about most of the ancient Russian stories.

House

1 0 0

If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl+Enter.

Who were the heroes of ancient Russian literature? The image of a hero in ancient Russian literature. The idea of ​​man in ancient Russian literature - Abstract

The idea of ​​man in ancient Russian literature (page 1 of 2). Heroes of ancient Russian literature

Smolyan in ancient Russian literature - abstract

Introduction

1 Old Russian literature

1.1 History of ancient Russian literature, general characteristics

1.2 Heroes of ancient Russian literature

The idea of ​​man in ancient Russian literature

The idea of ​​man in ancient Russian literature - Abstract

What works of ancient Russian literature do you know from courses in grades 5, 6, 7, 8? Name the heroes of previously studied works of ancient Russian literature

Editor's Choice

Who were the heroes of ancient Russian literature? The image of a hero in ancient Russian literature. The idea of man in ancient Russian literature - Abstract

The idea of man in ancient Russian literature (page 1 of 2). Heroes of ancient Russian literature

The idea of man in ancient Russian literature

The idea of man in ancient Russian literature - Abstract