Ganina Elena

Russian literature is almost a thousand years old. This is one of the oldest literatures in Europe. Of this great millennium, more than seven hundred years belong to the period that is customarily called "ancient Russian literature." It was D.S. Likhachev discovers spiritual and moral, artistic and aesthetic, and educational value ancient Russian literature. The paper notes the role of the literature of Ancient Rus' in the formation of Russian statehood, in the education of patriotism and morality of the Russian people, the artistic and aesthetic features of Old Russian literature and its influence on the development of literature in more late periods. In addition, the author of the essay assesses the importance of ancient Russian literature for the formation of the moral, patriotic and cultural image of today's young man. Throughout the work, the author refers to various works by D.S. Likhachev and talks about his contribution to the study of ancient Russian literature.

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Municipal budgetary educational institution

Barandat secondary school

The great wealth of the literature of Ancient Rus'

composition

Completed by: Ganina Elena Yurievna,

11th grade student of MOU Barandat secondary secondary school, 652216, Russia, Kemerovo region, Tisulsky district, village B. Barandat, Shkolnaya st., 1a, 5 – 28 – 26.

Home address: 652216, s.B. Barandat, st. October, 68.

Date of birth 08/15/1993, passport 3208 No. 563431 issued by the OUFMS of Russia for the Kemerovo region in the Tisulsky district on 10/29/2008

Leader: Klyueva Natalya Vitalievna, teacher of Russian language and literature.

Home address: 652216, s.B. Barandat, Molodezhnaya st., 4-1.

B. Barandat

I. Introduction. Why do we turn to ancient Russian literature today?

II. The role and place of literature in the national and individual-personal life of Ancient Rus'.

III. Conclusion. "Protective dome over the entire Russian land."

Bibliography

"IN cultural life you can't get away from memory, just as you can't get away from yourself. It is only important that what the culture keeps in memory is worthy of it.”

D.S. Likhachev

Why do we turn to ancient Russian literature today?

There are enough reasons to talk about ancient Russian literature today.

Russian literature is nearly a thousand years old. This is one of the oldest literatures in Europe. Of this great millennium, more than seven hundred years belong to the period that is customarily called "ancient Russian literature."

However artistic value Old Russian literature has not yet been truly defined. Ancient Russian painting was discovered: icons, frescoes, mosaics, ancient Russian architecture delights connoisseurs, the urban planning art of Ancient Rus' surprises, the curtain over the art of ancient Russian sewing is ajar, they began to “notice” ancient Russian sculpture.

Ancient Russian art makes a victorious march around the world. The Museum of Old Russian Icons is open in Recklinghausen (Germany), and special departments of Russian icons are in the museums of Stockholm, Oslo, Bergen, New York, Berlin and many other cities.

But ancient Russian literature is still silent, although works about it appear in different countries More. She is silent, because, according to D.S. Likhachev, most researchers, especially in the West, are looking for in it not aesthetic values, not literature as such, but only a means for revealing the secrets of the “mysterious” Russian soul, a document of Russian history. It was D.S. Likhachev discovers the spiritual and moral, artistic and aesthetic, and educational value of ancient Russian literature.

According to D.S. Likhachev, “literature was original. Publicism, moral exactingness of literature, richness of language literary works Ancient Rus' are amazing.

In the school curriculum, the literature of Ancient Rus' is given a very modest place. Only one "Word about Igor's Campaign" is studied in detail. Several lines are devoted to "The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu", "Zadonshchina", "Instruction" by Vladimir Monomakh. Seven - eight works - is that really all that was created before the 17th century? Academician D.S. Likhachev wrote about this: “I am surprised how little time is given at school to the study of ancient Russian culture.” “Due to insufficient familiarity with Russian culture, there is a widespread opinion among young people that everything Russian is uninteresting, secondary, borrowed, superficial. The systematic teaching of literature is designed to destroy this misconception.

So, the literature of Ancient Rus' should really be seriously studied at school. Firstly, the works of ancient Russian literature make it possible to educate the moral qualities of a person, to form national pride, national dignity and tolerant attitude towards other peoples, towards other cultures. Secondly, and no less important, Old Russian literature is an excellent material for studying the theory of literature.

Over the past few years, there has been so much talk about national idea. As soon as it is not formulated! And it was formulated long ago - in the works of ancient Russian literature. Here is how D.S. Likhachev: “Common destinies have linked our cultures, our ideas about life, life, beauty. In epics, the main cities of the Russian land remain Kyiv, Chernigov, Murom, Karela ... And the people remembered and still remember many other things in epics and historical songs. He keeps beauty in his heart, above the local - still some kind of supra-local, high, united ... And these "ideas of beauty" and spiritual heights are common despite the many-versus-mile disunity. Yes, disunity, but always calling for unity. And there was this feeling of unity for a long time. After all, in the legend itself about the calling of the three Varangian brothers, there was an idea, as I have long argued, about the brotherhood of tribes that led their princely families from the ancestors of the brothers. And who, according to the chronicle legend, called the Varangians: Rus, Chud (ancestors of the future Estonians), Slovenes, Krivichi and the whole (Vepsians) - Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes, therefore, according to the ideas of the chronicler of the XI century, these tribes lived a single life, were between are connected with each other. And how did you go on trips to Tsar-grad? Again, alliances of tribes. According to the chronicle story, Oleg took with him on a campaign a lot of Varangians, and Slovenes, and Chuds, and Krivichi, and Measure, and Drevlyans, and Radimichi, and Glades, and Severs, and Vyatichi, and Croats, and Dulebs, and Tivertsy .. ."

The role and place of literature in the national

and individual-personal life of Ancient Rus'

Christianity and ancient Russian literature.

How and when did literature originate in Ancient Rus'?

It is important to note that ancient Russian literature was originally moral, humane, highly spiritual, since it arose as a result of the adoption of Christianity.

Writing was known in Rus' even before the adoption of Christianity, but it was used exclusively for business purposes (contracts, letters, wills), and possibly in personal correspondence. To write down texts known to everyone and repeatedly heard in everyday life on expensive parchment seemed completely inappropriate. Records of folklore begin only in the 17th century.

But after the adoption of Christianity, the functioning of the church required books with texts Holy Scripture, prayers, hymns in honor of saints, or solemn words spoken in the days church holidays etc.

Books for home reading also contained texts of Holy Scripture, theological writings, moral sermons, exposition world history and the history of the church, the lives of the saints. The literature of the first decades of its existence was translated: Christianity came to Rus' with its own literature. But already a few decades after Christianization, Rus' possessed not just a “sum of books” dispersed among churches, monasteries, princely and boyar mansions; was born literature , representing genre system , each of which was implementedin dozens of works, spread across Rus' in tens and hundreds of lists. Secular monuments - translated and original - will appear later. Initially, literature served exclusively the purposes of religious education and enlightenment. Translation literature brought to Rus' the high (for its time) culture of Byzantium, which in turn absorbed the richest traditions and achievements of ancient science, philosophy, and rhetoric. So, answering the question about the origin of literature in Rus', we will come to the conclusion about the inextricable connection between Russian literature and European literature, about the origins of morality (literature was born as an instrument of education, not entertainment) and high quality literary monuments of Ancient Rus' (educational, spiritual literature could not be base).

Genre features of ancient Russian literature.

huge role in book culture Ancient Rus' played biblical texts. But in the middle of the XI century appear original works ancient Russian authors - "The Word of Law and Grace" by Metropolitan Hilarion, and later the first Russian lives (Antony of the Caves, Theodosius of the Caves, Boris and Gleb), teachings on moral themes. However, the most interesting and significant work of the first centuries of Russian literature, of course, is the Russian chronicle.

Chronicle - that is, a summary of events over the years -specifically Russian form historical narrative . It is thanks to the annals that we know our history sometimes in the smallest detail. At the same time, the chronicle was not a dry list of events - it was at the same timehigh quality literary work. It was about the chronicle that D.S. Likhachev spoke, developing his idea about the need for Old Russian literature in school: “Old Russian literature, in contrast to the literature of the 19th century, has, as it were, a child’s consciousness… And this ability, as it were, is akin to a young school consciousness.”

Folk legends about the first Russian princes - Oleg, Igor, Svyatoslav, Princess Olga, included by the chronicler in his text, were honed in the process of repeated oral reproduction, and therefore surprisingly figurative and poetic. No wonder A.S. Pushkin used the plot of one of these stories in his “Songs about prophetic Oleg". And if we also turn to other chronicle stories, we will see their enormous moral and patriotic wealth. Dramatic pages of national history will unfold before us, warriors and politicians, heroes of battles and heroes of the spirit will pass ... But the main thing is that the chronicler says about all thisvivid language of images, often resorting toto style and figurative system oral epic stories. D.S. Likhachev approached the chronicle not only as a historian, but also as a literary critic. He studied the growth and change in the very methods of chronicle writing, their originality and close connection with the Russian historical process. (“History of Russian Literature” - 1945, “Russian Chronicles and Their Cultural and Historical Significance” - 1947). Academician Likhachev presented the connection between the chronicle of the 11th - 12th centuries with folk poetry and the living Russian language; as part of the annals, he singled out a specialgenre of "tales of feudal crimes"; showed the relationship of individual spheres of Russian culture of the XV - XVI centuries. with the historical situation of that time and with the struggle to build a centralized Russian state. The cycle of works by D.S. Likhachev, dedicated to Russian chronicle writing, is of value, primarily because they exploreartistic elementschronicles; and chronicles are finally recognized not only as a historical document, but also as a literary monument. Dmitry Sergeevich notes such a feature of ancient Russian literature as the "choral" beginning, "the height of which in the epic and lyrics is indisputable."In the works of Russian culture, the share of the lyrical beginning, its own copyright to the subject or object of creativity. One may ask: how can this be combined with the "choral" beginning, which was just mentioned? Combines... "Take Old Russian period, the first seven centuries of Russian culture,” writes D.S. Likhachev. - “What a huge number of messages from one to another, letters, sermons, and in historical works how frequent are the appeals to the readers, how much controversy! True, a rare author strives to express himself, but it turns out that he expresses ... ”And in the 18th century, how often Russian classical literature turned to letters, diaries, notes, to a story in the first person. Poetry among all peoples lives as a self-expression of the individual, but Dmitry Sergeevich calls prose works: "Journey ..." Radishcheva, " captain's daughter"Pushkin, "Hero of Our Time" Lermontov, " Sevastopol stories Tolstoy, Gorky's My Universities, Bunin's Life of Arseniev. Even Dostoevsky (with the possible exception of "Crime and Punishment"), according to Likhachev, always narrates on behalf of a chronicler, an outside observer, he means someone on whose behalf the narration flows. This domesticity, intimacy and confession of Russian literature is its outstanding feature.

In addition, a thorough study of the features of the chronicle narrative allowed Dmitry Sergeevich to develop the question of forms of creativity bordering on literature - about military speeches, about business forms writing, about the symbolism of etiquette, which occurs in everyday life, but significantly affects literature.

For example, Hilarion's "Sermon on Law and Grace". D.S. Likhachev calls it “an exceptional work, because Byzantium did not know such theological and political speeches. There are only theological sermons, but here is a historiosophical political speech that affirms the existence of Rus', its connection with world history, its place in world history. He says it's amazing. Then the works of Theodosius of the Caves, then Vladimir Monomakh himself, in his "Instruction" connecting high Christianity with military pagan ideals. Thus, ancient Russian literature puts not only moral. But also political and philosophical problems.

No less interesting is another genre of ancient Russian literature - lives of the saints . D.S. Likhachev notes here such features of ancient Russian literature as instructiveness and at the same time confessionality: “Literature throughout its entire length retains a “teaching” character. Literature is a platform from which - it does not thunder, no - but nevertheless the author addresses the reader with moral questions. Moral and worldview.

Perhaps the impression of both arises because the author does not feel superior to the reader. Avvakum not only instructs in his Life, but encourages himself. He does not teach, but explains, does not preach, but cries. His "Life" is a lament for oneself, a lamentation for one's life on the eve of its inevitable end.

Anticipating the publication of a number of Russian lives in the weekly "Family" in 1988 - 1989, D.S. Likhachev writes: "Not a single lesson hagiographic literature cannot be directly perceived by us, but if we take into account that morality is ultimately the same for all ages and for all people, then by reading about the obsolete in detail, we can find much in general for ourselves. And the scientist lists those moral qualities that glorified lives and which we need so much today: honesty, conscientiousness in work, love for the motherland, indifference to material goods and concern for public economy. Yes, Russian literature began with “instructive”, preaching works, but later Russian literature unfolded more complex compositions in front of its readers, in which one or another author’s behavior was offered to the reader as material for reflection. This material included various moral issues. The problems of morality were posed as artistic tasks, especially in Dostoevsky and Leskov.

D.S. Likhachev also turned to the study of the ancient Russian “laughter culture”. In the book “Laughter World” of Ancient Rus' (1976), he first highlighted the problem of the specifics of the laughter culture of Ancient Rus', considered the role of laughter in public life of that time, features of satirical literary works and their influence on people's behavior.

Artistic method of ancient Russian literature.

So, studying the works of ancient Russian literature, we get acquainted with the original Russian genres of literature and have the opportunity to trace them further development or influence on the literature of later eras. It is in the lessons on ancient Russian literature that we must understand that this layer of our domestic literature is valuable in itself, has its own laws of development, and at the same time is the basis for all Russian literature of the 19th-20th centuries. We need to see the connection between the works of A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharov, F.M. .Nekrasov, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L.N. Tolstoy, N.S. Leskov, many authors of the XX century with ancient Russian literature. We observe this connection in A. Blok's poem "The Twelve", in the works of S. Yesenin, M. Tsvetaeva, M. Bulgakov, in some poems by V. Mayakovsky, therefore, for effective work on literature, it is simply necessary to have a deeper understanding of the literature of Ancient Rus' . Many traditional national images, symbols, techniques and means of expression originate in ancient literature and folklore, undergo changes, develop, acquire a new meaning. Understanding the meaning and poetics of great works will undoubtedly be deeper if we trace inseparable bond and continuity in the formation creative styles, directions, systems. D.S. Likhachev dealt with the problem a lot genre system ancient Russian literature. He explored in all its complexity the diversity, hierarchy, close interdependence of genres and stylistic devices in ancient Russian literature. Dmitry Sergeevich writes that it is necessary to study not only separate genres, but also the principles on the basis of which the genre division takes place, the relationship literary genres with folklore, the connection of literature with other arts.

When studying ancient Russian literature, it is necessary to talk about a peculiar " artistic method and its subsequent development. In the artistic method of ancient Russian writers, D.S. Likhachev first of all noted the ways of depicting a person - his character and inner world. The scientist emphasized this feature and spoke about its further development in the literature of the 18th century. In his works “The problem of character in historical works of the early 17th century.” (1951) and "Man in the Literature of Ancient Rus'" (1958), he reflected the historical development of such basic concepts as character, type, literary fiction. He clearly showed how hard way Russian literature passed before it turned to depicting the inner world of a person, his character, i.e. to artistic generalization leading from idealization to typification.

"Protective dome over the entire Russian land"

In one of his interviews, D.S. Likhachev says: “Literature suddenly rose like a huge protective dome over the entire Russian land, engulfed it all - from sea to sea, from the Baltic to the Black, and from the Carpathians to the Volga.

I mean the appearance of such works as Metropolitan Hilarion's "Sermon on Law and Grace"; and Gleb", "The Life of Theodosius of the Caves", etc.

But indeed, all these works are marked by high historical, political and national identity, consciousness of the unity of the people, especially valuable at a time when political life the fragmentation of Rus' into principalities was already beginning, "when Rus' began to be torn apart by internecine wars of princes." It was during this period of political disunity that literature declares that the princes do not reign in a “thin” and not in an unknown country, literature tries to clarify the question of “where did the Russian land come from; calls for unity. Moreover, it is important that the works are created not in one center, but throughout the entire space of the Russian land - chronicles, sermons, the Kiev Caves Patericon are compiled, Vladimir Monomakh is in correspondence with Oleg Gorislavich, etc., etc. literary creativity numerous Russian cities and monasteries were drawn in surprisingly quickly: in addition to Kyiv - Veliky Novgorod, both cities of Vladimir at different ends of the Russian land - Vladimir Volynsky and Vladimir Suzdalsky, Rostov, Smolensk and even small Turov. Everywhere writers, and especially chroniclers, use the labor of their brethren from the most remote places of the East Slavic Plain, correspondence arises everywhere, writers move from one principality to another.

At a time of decline in political disunity and military weakening, literature replaced the state. Hence, from the very beginning and throughout all the centuries, the highest social responsibility of our literatures - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.

That's why D.S. Likhachev described the great function of ancient Russian literature as follows: it "rose over Russia like a huge protective dome - it became a shield of its unity, a moral shield."

Without being familiar with the development of Russian literature, we will not be able to fully cover the path that great Russian literature has gone through, evaluate the achievements and discoveries made by Russian writers, we will remain indifferent to the fragmentary information that gives us school program. After all, based on it, Russian literature appeared out of nowhere: there, in the west, there was Dante, there was Shakespeare, and in our country until the 18th century there was emptiness, and only somewhere there, in the darkness of centuries, the Tale of Igor's Campaign glows a little.

The literature of Ancient Rus' is necessary at school so that we finally realize our usefulness.

Literature

1. Likhachev D S. Image of people in the annals of the XII-XIII centuries // Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature. [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. - M.; L., 1954. T. 10.
2. Likhachev D.S. Poetics of ancient Russian literature. [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. - L., 1967.
3. Likhachev D.S. Man in the Literature of Ancient Rus'. [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. - M., 1970.
4. Likhachev D.S. Development of Russian literature of the X-XVII centuries: Epochs and styles. [Text] / D.S. Likhachev.- L., Science. 1973.
5. Likhachev D.S. "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" and the culture of his time. [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. - L., 1985.
6. Likhachev D.S. The past is the future. Articles and essays. [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. - L., 1985.
7. Likhachev D.S. The Book of Anxiety. Articles, conversations, memories [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. - M .: Publishing house "News", 1991.
8. Likhachev D.S. "Russian culture". [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. – Art, M.: 2000.
9. Likhachev D.S. “Thoughts about Russia”, [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. - Logos, M.: 2006.
10. Likhachev D.S. "Memories". [Text] / D.S. Likhachev. – Vagrius, 2007.

"How to teach to read" - You don't know who I am. I am not only the letter "I" - LETTER, SYLLABLE and WORD! And daddy plays (On copper pipe), And grandfather (Plays with his grandson in the hut) ... From 6 to 12 points We can talk about the average reading ability of the baby. Native language, be friends with me! (4-5 years). From 13 to 18 points Your child is fully prepared for learning.

"Old Russian icon painting" - The icon is completely different from the usual picture. Therefore, the basis of ancient Russian painting is the great Christian "word". Iconography remained the core of ancient Russian culture until late XVII century, when in the Petrine era it was supplanted by secular views visual arts. Icons here have long been an indispensable accessory of every building - both temple and public - civil, and just a residential building.

"Formation of the Old Russian State" - Kiy. Killed. Old tires. Druzhina. Cattle breeding Trade Military campaigns. Rurik askold dir. According to another version - people from the coast of the Baltic Sea, related Slavic tribes. According to the chronicle legend, a relative or governor of Rurik. The legendary Varangian, called to reign by the Slovenes, Krivichi, Chud and the whole.

"Old Russian Literature Grade 9" - What two functions does it perform? Old Russian literature. Previously, people believed in light and dark forces. Russian writing begins to develop rapidly with the adoption of Christianity and the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet. Battles of princes for the throne of Kyiv. Old Russian literature described various historical events: How were the books shared?

"Old Russian Church" - Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin, 14th century. Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki. A 22-domed church was erected here, a masterpiece of Russian wooden architecture. Dmitrievsky Cathedral. The massive octagon is decorated with a decorative belt of carved triangular pediments. Ancient Russian architecture. Kizhi… Church of the Twelve Apostles in Novgorod, 14th century.

"Old Russian culture" - HOLY SOPHIA - Divine Wisdom. Old Russian culture. Clay board. Wrote. Onfim is a Novgorod boy who studied 800 years ago. peasant house. Onfim. Demetrius Cathedral in Vladimir. Temple of Hagia Sophia in Novgorod. Wax board. Holy Sophia. Kiev Hagia Sophia 11th century Ukraine, Kyiv.

Poetics of ancient Russian literature Likhachev Dmitry Sergeevich

WHY STUDY THE POETICS OF OLD RUSSIAN LITERATURE? INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION

WHY STUDY THE POETICS OF OLD RUSSIAN LITERATURE? INSTEAD OF CONCLUSION

Perhaps the question of why it is necessary to study the poetics of ancient Russian literature so far from modernity should have been put at the beginning of the book, and not at its end. But the fact is that at the beginning of the book, the answer to it would be too long ... In addition, it leads us to another, much more complex and responsible question - about the meaning of the aesthetic development of the cultures of the past in general.

Aesthetic study of monuments ancient art(including literature) seems to me extremely important and relevant. We must place the monuments of the cultures of the past at the service of the future. The values ​​of the past must become active participants in the life of the present, our fighting comrades-in-arms. Questions of the interpretation of cultures and individual civilizations are now attracting the attention of historians and philosophers, art historians and literary critics all over the world.

But first - about some features of the development of culture.

The history of culture stands out sharply in the general historical development of mankind. It constitutes a special, red thread in the retinue of the many threads of world history. Unlike general movement"civil" history, the process of cultural history is not only a process of change, but also a process of preserving the past, a process of discovering the new in the old, the accumulation of cultural values. The best works of culture, and in particular, the best works literature, continue to participate in the life of mankind. The writers of the past, insofar as they continue to be read and continue to have an impact, are our contemporaries. And we need to have more of these good contemporaries of ours. In works that are humanistic, humane in the highest sense of the word, culture never ages.

The continuity of cultural values ​​is their most important property. “History is nothing else,” F. Engels wrote, “as a successive change of separate generations, each of which uses materials, capital, productive forces transferred to it by all previous generations ...”. With the development and deepening of our historical knowledge, the ability to appreciate the culture of the past, humanity gets the opportunity to rely on the entire cultural heritage. F. Engels wrote that without the flourishing of culture in a slave-owning society it would have been impossible "all our economic, political and intellectual development ...". All forms of social consciousness, ultimately determined by the material foundation of culture, at the same time directly depend on the mental material accumulated by previous generations, and on mutual influence each other of different cultures.

(1) Marx K., Engels F. Op. Ed. 2nd. T. 3. S. 44-45.

(2) Engels F. Anti-Dühring // Ibid. T. 20. S. 185-186.

That is why an objective study of the history of literature, painting, architecture, and music is just as important as the very preservation of cultural monuments. At the same time, we should not suffer from myopia in the selection of "living" cultural monuments. In expanding our horizons, and in particular aesthetic, is the great task of cultural historians of various specialties. How more intelligent person, topics the more he is able to understand, assimilate, the wider his horizons and ability to understand and accept cultural values ​​- past and present. The less broad a person's cultural outlook is, the more he is intolerant of everything new and "too old", the more he is in the grip of his usual ideas, the more he is stagnant, narrow and suspicious. One of the most important evidence of the progress of culture is the development of an understanding of the cultural values ​​of the past and the cultures of other nationalities, the ability to preserve, accumulate, and perceive their aesthetic value. All development history human culture there is a history of not only the creation of new, but also the discovery of old cultural values. And this development of understanding of other cultures to a certain extent merges with the history of humanism. This is the development of tolerance in the good sense of the word, peacefulness, respect for people, for other peoples.

Let me remind you of some facts. The Middle Ages were deprived of a sense of history, they did not understand antiquity or understood it only in their own aspect. If the Middle Ages turned to history, they dressed it up in their own contemporary clothes. The greatness of the Renaissance was associated with the discoveries of value ancient culture, in the first place - its aesthetic value. Discoveries of the new in the old accompanied the movement forward and the development of humanism. The creators of genuine values ​​are always fair to their predecessors. One of the most striking revivalists of Italian sculpture and its reformers, Nicolo Pisano, was in love with antiquity. Sensitivity to the artistic achievements of his predecessors characterizes Giotto, whose name is associated with the largest innovative revolution in painting of the XIII-XIV centuries. It is known that subsequently, in the 18th century, the expansion in the aesthetic understanding of ancient art, associated with the activities of Winckelmann and Lessing, led not only to the collection and preservation of ancient monuments, but also to a revolution in contemporary art and to a new development of humanism and tolerance.

The movement of world culture towards a gradual expansion of understanding of the cultures of the past and foreign cultures in order to enrich the cultural present was not uniform and easy. It met resistance and often retreated back. Early Christianity hated antiquity. antique sculpture associated with paganism. It was reminiscent of the idolatry and immoral cult of the Roman emperors. Early Christians harboring a superstitious fear of pagan gods, smashed antique statues, justifying their barbarism by the fact that the old men and women still continued to worship them. Equestrian statue Marcus Aurelius survived only because it was mistaken for a statue of the holy Christian emperor Constantine the Great. How many goals do the best antique statues was recaptured for these "ideological" reasons, how many works of literature have been irretrievably lost. New religion, taking the place of the old, always showed extreme intolerance towards the monuments of the old culture, carried out destructive activities. The iconoclastic movement that developed within the old Christianity also destroyed thousands of masterpieces of the old art of Byzantine painting.

In Rome, on the Capitol, where the marble temples of Jupiter and Juno were located, a quarry was made in the Middle Ages, and only great Raphael, an innovative artist, was the first to excavate there. The crusaders, who imagined themselves to be radical reformers of life, destroyed the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and built a castle from its stones to enslave the conquered country.

In the history of world culture, the cultural conquests of the 19th century are especially significant. The discovery of the richness of the spiritual life of past epochs was one of the greatest conquests of precisely the entire world culture (an enormous merit in this belongs, in particular, to Hegel). The establishment of the common development of all mankind, the equality of the cultures of the past - all these are the achievements of the 19th century, evidence of its deep historicism. The 19th century supplanted the idea of ​​the superiority of European culture over all other cultures. Of course, in the XIX century. much was still unclear, there was an internal struggle between different points of view, and the historicism of the 19th century. won not only victories, but in the 20th century. it even became possible to revive misanthropy and the emergence of fascism.

The humanities are now becoming more and more important in the development of world culture.

It has become banal to say that in the XX century. Distances have shortened due to advances in technology. But it may not be a truism to say that they have been further reduced between people, countries, cultures and epochs thanks to the development of the humanities. That is why the humanities are becoming an important moral force in the development of mankind.

We know how humanity suffered from the fascists' desire to exterminate foreign cultures, from their unwillingness to recognize any value behind them. The extermination of cultural monuments of non-European civilizations reached a terrible force during the era of colonialism. The history of world culture, even in its most external manifestations devastated by the colonial system. The "European Quarters" of Hong Kong and other cities have nothing to do with the history of their countries. These are foreign bodies, reflecting the unwillingness of their builders to reckon with the culture of the people, its history and testifying to the desire to assert the superiority of the dominant nation over the oppressed - to approve the so-called "international" American style over all the variety of local architectural styles and cultural traditions.

Now the world science faces a huge task - to study, understand and preserve the monuments of the cultures of the peoples of Africa and Asia, to introduce their culture into the culture of modernity.

(1) This is well said in the excellent article by N. I. Konrad “Notes on the Meaning of History” // Bulletin of the History of World Culture. 1961, No. 2. See: He. West and East. M., 1966.

The same task stands with regard to the cultural history of the past of our own country.

How is it with learning? cultural heritage Russia of the first seven or eight centuries of its existence? The ability to appreciate and understand the monuments of the Russian past came especially late. In Notes on Moscow Landmarks, none other than Karamzin, speaking of the village of Kolomenskoye, does not even mention the now world-famous Church of the Ascension. He did not understand the aesthetic value of St. Basil's Cathedral, indifferently noted the death of the ancient monuments of Moscow. V. I. Grigorovich in 1826 in the article “On the State of the Arts in Russia” wrote: “Let the hunters of antiquity agree with the praises attributed to some Rublev ... and other painters who lived much before the reign of Peter: I trust little these praises … arts were established in Russia by Peter the Great.” The 19th century did not recognize the painting of Ancient Rus'. Artists of Ancient Rus' were called "bogomazes". Only at the beginning of the 20th century, mainly due to the activities of I. Grabar and his entourage, was the value of ancient Russian art, now internationally recognized and having a fruitful, innovative influence on the art of many artists of the world. Now reproductions from Rublev's icons are sold in Western Europe next to reproductions of Raphael's works. Editions dedicated to the masterpieces of world art open with reproductions of Rublev's Trinity.

However, recognizing the icon and partly the architecture of Ancient Rus', western world has not yet revealed anything else in the culture of Ancient Rus'. The culture of Ancient Rus' is therefore presented only in the forms of "silent" arts, and it is spoken of as a culture of "intellectual silence".

(1) Northern flowers for 1826. SPb., 1826. S. 9-11.

(2) See about this in the article by prof. James Billington "Images of Moscovy" (Slavic Review. 1962, no. 3). The culture of Ancient Rus', according to J. Billington, did not continue in the culture of new Russia and turned out to be alien and incomprehensible in subsequent post-Petrine Russia, which, in particular, allegedly explains the neglect in which the monuments of its culture are located.

Hence it is clear that the disclosure of the aesthetic value of monuments verbal art Ancient Rus', an art that can in no way be recognized as "silent", is a task of very great importance. Attempts to reveal the aesthetic value of Old Russian literature were made by F. I. Buslaev, A. S. Orlov, N. K. Gudziy, V. P. Adrianov-Peretz, I. P. Eremin, who made a huge contribution to the understanding of Old Russian literature as an art. But much remains to be done in the study of her poetics.

This study must begin with the discovery of her aesthetic originality. It is necessary to begin with what distinguishes ancient Russian literature from modern literature. It is necessary to dwell primarily on the differences, however scientific study should be based on the belief in the knowability of the cultural values ​​of the past, on the belief in the possibility of their aesthetic development. In this aesthetic assimilation of ancient Russian literature, of course, the study of poetics should play a leading role, but in no case should it be limited to it. Artistic analysis inevitably presupposes an analysis of all aspects of literature: the totality of its aspirations, its connections with reality. Any work, snatched from its historical environment, also loses its aesthetic value, like a brick taken out of the building of a great architect. A monument of the past, in order to be truly understood in its artistic essence, must be explained in detail with; all of its seemingly “non-artistic” aspects. An aesthetic analysis of a literary monument of the past should be based on a huge real commentary. You need to know the era, the biographies of writers, the art of that time, the laws of the historical and literary process, the language - literary in its relationship to the non-literary, etc., etc. Therefore, the study of poetics should be based on the study of the historical and literary process in all its complexity and in all its multiple connections with reality. A specialist in the poetics of ancient Russian literature must be at the same time a historian of literature, an expert on texts and manuscript heritage as a whole.

Penetrating into the aesthetic consciousness of other epochs and other nations, we must first of all study their differences among themselves and their differences from our aesthetic consciousness, from the aesthetic consciousness of modern times. We must first of all study the peculiar and inimitable, the "individuality" of peoples and past epochs. It is in the diversity of aesthetic consciousnesses that their special instructiveness, their richness and the guarantee of the possibility of their use in modern artistic creativity. To approach the old art and the art of other countries only from the point of view of modern aesthetic norms, to look only for what is close to ourselves, means to extremely impoverish the aesthetic heritage.

Human consciousness has a remarkable ability to penetrate the consciousness of other people and understand it, despite all its differences. Moreover, consciousness also cognizes what is not consciousness, what is different in its nature. The unique is not therefore the incomprehensible. In this penetration into someone else's consciousness - the enrichment of the knower, his movement forward, growth, development. The more human consciousness takes possession of other cultures, the richer it is, the more flexible it is and the more effective it is.

But the ability to understand what is alien is not illegibility in accepting this alien. The selection of the best constantly accompanies the expansion of understanding of other cultures. Despite all the differences in aesthetic consciousnesses, there is something in common between them that makes their evaluation and use possible. But the discovery of this commonality is possible only through the preliminary establishment of differences.

In our time, the study of ancient Russian literature is becoming more and more necessary. We are gradually beginning to realize that the solution of many problems in the history of Russian literature of its classical period is impossible without the involvement of the history of ancient Russian literature.

Peter's reforms marked a transition from the old to the new, and not a gap, the emergence of new qualities under the influence of trends that lay in the previous period - it is clear, just as it is clear that the development of Russian literature from the tenth century. and to this day is a single whole, no matter what turns may be encountered on the path of this development. We can understand and appreciate the significance of the literature of our day only on the scale of the entire thousand-year development of Russian literature. None of the issues raised in this book can be considered definitively resolved. The purpose of this book is to outline the paths of study, and not close them to the movement of scientific thought. The more controversy this book causes, the better. And there is no reason to doubt that it is necessary to argue, just as there is no reason to doubt that the study of antiquity should be carried out in the interests of modernity. 1979

Instead of a conclusion If the reader has reached this very last page of my notes on the life of Japan, past and present, then he was not too bored. So my work was not in vain. But I foresee a legitimate reader's bewilderment: did the author talk about