1). Origin question heroic epic- one of the most complex in literary science - has generated a number of different theories. Two stand out among them: "traditionalism" and "anti-traditionalism." The foundations of the first of these were laid by the French medievalist Gaston Paris (1839-1901) in his major work The Poetic History of Charlemagne (1865). The theory of Gaston Paris, called the "cantilena theory", is reduced to the following main provisions. The fundamental principle of the heroic epic was the small lyrical-epic cantilena songs, widespread in the 8th century. Cantilenas were a direct response to certain historical events. For hundreds of years, cantilenas existed in oral tradition, and from the tenth century. the process of their merging into large epic poems begins. The epic is the product of long-term collective creativity, the highest expression of the spirit of the people. Therefore, it is impossible to name a single creator of an epic poem, while the very recording of poems is a process rather mechanical than creative,

The positions of "traditionalists" and "anti-traditionalists" were brought together to a certain extent in his theory of the origin of the heroic epic by Alexander Nikolaevich Veselovsky. The essence of his theory is as follows. imagination. After a while, the attitude to the events set forth in the songs becomes calmer, the sharpness of emotions is lost and then an epic song is born. Time passes, and songs, in one way or another close to each other, add up to cycles. And finally, the cycle turns into an epic poem "As long as the text exists in the oral tradition, it is the creation of a collective. At the last stage of the formation of the epic, the individual author plays a decisive role. The recording of poems is not a mechanical act, but a deeply creative one.

The foundations of Veselovsky's theory retain their significance for modern science (V. Zhirmunsky, E. Meletinsky), which also refers the emergence of the heroic epic to the 8th century, believing that the epic is the creation of both oral collective and written-individual creativity.

Only the question of the fundamental principles of the heroic epic is being corrected: they are usually considered to be historical legends and the richest arsenal of figurative means of the archaic epic.

It is no coincidence that the beginning of the formation of the heroic (or state) epic is attributed to the 8th century. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476) for a number of centuries, there was a transition from slave-owning forms of statehood to feudal ones, and among the peoples of Northern Europe there was a process of final decomposition of patriarchal-clan relations. The qualitative changes associated with the establishment of a new statehood definitely make themselves felt in the 8th century. In 751, one of the largest feudal lords in Europe, Pepin the Short, became the king of the Franks and the founder of the Carolingian dynasty. Under the son of Pepin the Short, Charlemagne (reigned: 768-814), a huge state was formed in territory, including the Celtic-Romanesque-Germanic population. In 80b, the pope crowned Charles with the title of emperor of the newly revived Great Roman Empire. In turn, Kara completes the Christianization of the Germanic tribes, and seeks to turn the capital of the empire, Aachen, into Athens. The formation of the new state was difficult not only because of internal circumstances, but also because of external ones, among which one of the main places was occupied by the unceasing war of the Christian Franks and Muslim Arabs. So the story powerfully entered into life medieval man. And the heroic epic itself became a poetic reflection of the historical consciousness of the people.

The appeal to history determines the decisive features of the difference between the heroic epic and the archaic epic. The central themes of the heroic epic reflect the most important trends historical life, a specific historical, geographical, ethnic background appears, mythological and fairy-tale motivations are eliminated. The truth of history now determines the truth of the epic.

The heroic poems created by different peoples of Europe have much in common. This is explained by the fact that a similar historical reality has undergone artistic generalization; this reality itself was comprehended from the point of view of the same level of historical consciousness. In addition, the artistic language, which has common roots in European folklore, served as a means of depiction. But at the same time, in the heroic epic of each individual people there are many unique, national-specific features.

The most significant of the Heroic Poems of the peoples Western Europe are considered: French - "Song of Roland", German - "Song of the Nibelungs", Spanish - "Song of my Sid". These three great poems make it possible to judge the evolution of the heroic epic: the Nibelungenlied contains a whole series of archaic features, "The Song of my Sid" is an epic at its end, "The Song of Roland" is the moment of its highest maturity.

2) GENERAL FEATURES OF THE HEROIC EPOS

During the period of the Mature Middle Ages, the development of the traditions of folk epic literature continues. This is one of the significant stages in its history, when the heroic epic became the most important link in medieval literary literature. The heroic epic of the Mature Middle Ages reflected the processes of ethnic and state consolidation and the emerging seigneurial-vassal relations. Historical theme expanded in the epic, displacing the fabulous mythological one, the meaning of Christian motives and patriotic pathos intensified, a large epic form and a more flexible style were developed, which was facilitated by some distance from purely folklore samples. However, all this led to a certain impoverishment of the plot and mythopoetic imagery, so subsequently the chivalric romance again turned to folklore fiction. All these features of the new stage in the history of the epic are closely interconnected internally. The transition from the epic archaic to the epic classics, in particular, was expressed in the fact that the epics of the peoples who had reached the stage of a distinct state consolidation abandoned the language of myth and fairy tale and turned to the development of plots taken from historical traditions(still continuing to use, of course, the old plot and language clichés that go back to myths).

Tribal interests were pushed aside by national interests, albeit in an embryonic form, so in many epic monuments we find pronounced patriotic motives, often associated with the struggle against foreign and heterodox conquerors. Patriotic motifs, as is specific to the Middle Ages, partly appear in the form of opposition of Christians to "infidel" Muslims (in Romanesque and Slavic literatures).

As said, the epic at the new stage depicts feudal strife and seigneurial-vassal relations, but due to the epic specifics, vassal fidelity (in the Nibelungenlied, Roland Song, Song of my Side) usually merges with fidelity to the family, tribe, home country, the state. characteristic figure in the epic of this time - the epic "king", whose power embodies the unity of the country. He is shown in a difficult relationship with the main epic hero- the bearer of popular ideals. Vassal loyalty to the king is combined with a story about his weakness, injustice, with a very critical image of the court environment and feudal strife (in the cycle of French poems about Guillaume of Orange). The epic also reflects anti-aristocratic tendencies (in songs about Dietrich of Bern or in "Songs about my Sid"). In the epic-heroic works of the XII-XIII centuries. sometimes the influence of the courtly (knightly) novel also penetrates (in the Nibelungenlied). But even with the idealization of courtly forms of life, the epic basically retains folk-heroic ideals, heroic aesthetics. In the heroic epic, some tendencies are also manifested that go beyond its genre nature, for example, hypertrophied adventurousness (“Raoul de Cambrai”, etc.), material motivations for the hero’s behavior, patiently overcoming adverse circumstances (in “The Song of My Sid”), drama , reaching the point of tragedy (in the Nibelungen and in the Song of Roland). These diverse trends testify to the hidden possibilities of the epic kind of poetry, anticipate the development of the novel and tragedy.

The stylistic features of the epic are now largely determined by the departure from folklore and a deeper processing of folklore traditions. In the process of transition from oral improvisation to recitation from manuscripts, numerous enjambements appear, i.e. transfers from verse to verse, synonymy develops, flexibility and variety of epic formulas increase, sometimes the number of repetitions decreases, a clearer and more harmonious composition becomes possible (“Song of Roland").

Although broad cyclization is familiar and oral creativity(for example, in the folklore of Central Asia), but basically the creation of epic works of a large volume and their addition into cycles is supported by the transition from oral improvisation to a handwritten book. Apparently, bookishness also contributes to the emergence of a “psychological” characteristic, as well as the interpretation of a heroic character in terms of a kind of tragic guilt. However, the interaction of folklore and literary literature actively continues: in the composition and especially the performance of many epic works, the participation of shpilmans and jugglers during this period is great.

6) One of the most remarkable monuments of medieval literature is the epic legend of the French people - "The Song of Roland".

An insignificant historical fact formed the basis of this heroic epic and, over time, enriched by a number of later events, helped to spread the legends about Roland, about the wars of Charlemagne in many literatures of Western Europe.

The Song of Roland clearly expresses the ideology of a feudal society, in which the faithful service of a vassal to his overlord was an untouchable law, and its violation was considered betrayal and treason. However, the features of courageous steadfastness, military prowess, disinterested friendship and a thoughtful attitude to what is happening were not received in the poem, as well as in the remarkable monument of the creativity of the Russian people "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", class-feudal confinement; on the contrary, these convincing properties of the valiant defenders of the motherland - military leaders-peers and their vassals, were perceived as typical, popular. An even greater degree of recognition and sympathy from the broad masses of the people was facilitated by thoughts about defending the fatherland, about shame and the danger of defeat, which run like a red thread through the entire poem.

epic(ancient Greek ἔπος - “word”, “narration”) - a heroic narrative about the past, containing a complete picture folk life and representing in harmonious unity a kind of epic world of heroes-heroes.

The epic is a literary genre, distinguished along with lyrics and drama; It is represented by such genres as fairy tale, legend, varieties of heroic epos, epic, epic poem, story, short story, short story, novel, essay. The epic, like the drama, is characterized by the reproduction of the action unfolding in space and time - the course of events in the life of the characters. The specific feature of the epic is in the organizing role of the narrative. the speaker (the author or narrator himself) reports the events and their details as something past and remembered, along the way resorting to descriptions of the situation of the action and the appearance of the characters, and sometimes to reasoning.
The narrative layer of speech of the epic work naturally interacts with the dialogues and monologues of the characters. The epic narration either becomes self-sufficient, temporarily suspending the statements of the characters, or imbued with their spirit in an improperly direct speech; either frames the characters' replicas, or, on the contrary, is reduced to a minimum or temporarily disappears. But in general, it dominates the work, holding together everything depicted in it. Therefore, the features of the epic are largely determined by the properties of the narrative. Speech here acts mainly in the function of reporting about what happened earlier. Between the conduct of speech and the depicted action in the Epos, a temporal distance is maintained: the epic poet tells "... about the event, as about something separate from himself ..." (Aristotle, On the Art of Poetry).
The epic narration is conducted on behalf of the narrator, a kind of intermediary between the depicted and the listeners (readers), the witness and interpreter of what happened. Information about his fate, his relationship with the characters, about the circumstances of the "narrative" is usually absent. The "spirit of the story" is often "...weightless, incorporeal and omnipresent...". At the same time, the narrator's speech characterizes not only the subject of the utterance, but also the narrator himself; the epic form captures the manner of speaking and perceiving the world, the originality of the narrator's consciousness. The living perception of the reader is always associated with close attention to the expressive beginnings of the narrative, i.e., the subject of the narrative, or the "image of the narrator" (the concept of V. V. Vinogradov, M. M. Bakhtin, G. A. Gukovsky).
The epic is as free as possible in the development of space and time. The writer either creates stage episodes, i.e., pictures that capture one place and one moment in the life of the characters (an evening at A.P. Sherer in the first chapters of "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy), or in descriptive, review episodes , "panoramic" speaks of long periods of time or what happened in different places(Description by L. N. Tolstoy of Moscow, deserted before the arrival of the French). In a thorough reconstruction of the processes occurring in a wide space and at significant stages of time, only cinematography can compete with the Epos.
The arsenal of literary and visual means is used by the epic in its entirety (portraits, direct characteristics, dialogues and monologues, landscapes, interiors, actions, gestures, facial expressions, etc.), which gives the images the illusion of plastic volume and visual and auditory authenticity. The depicted can also be an exact correspondence to the "forms of life itself" and, on the contrary, a sharp re-creation of them. The epic, unlike the drama, does not insist on the conventions of what is being recreated. Here, conventionally, it is not so much the depicted itself, but rather the “depicting”, i.e., the narrator, who often has absolute knowledge of what happened in its smallest details. In this sense, the structure of the epic narration, which usually differs from non-fictional messages (reportage, historical chronicle), as it were, "gives out" the fictional, artistic and illusory nature of the depicted.
The epic form is based on various types of plots. In some cases, the eventfulness of the works is extremely tense (adventurous-detective plots of F. M. Dostoevsky), in others, the course of events is weakened, so that what happened seems to be drowning in descriptions, psychological characteristics, reasoning (A. P. Chekhov’s prose of the 1890s ., novels by T. Mann and W. Faulkner). According to I. W. Goethe and F. Schiller, slowing down motives are an essential feature of the epic kind of literature as a whole. The volume of the text of an epic work, which can be both prose and poetic, is practically unlimited - from miniature stories (early Chekhov, O. Henry) to lengthy epics and novels ("Mahabharata" and "Iliad", "War and Peace" and Quiet Don). The epic can concentrate in itself such a number of characters and events that are inaccessible to other types of literature and types of art (only serial television films can compete with it). At the same time, the narrative form is able to recreate complex, contradictory, multifaceted characters that are in the making. Although the possibilities of epic display are not used in all works, the word Epos is associated with the idea of ​​showing life in its integrity, of revealing the essence whole era and scale of the creative act. The scope of epic genres is not limited to any types of experiences and worldviews. In nature, Epos is a universally widespread use of the cognitive and ideological possibilities of literature and art in general. The "localizing" characteristics of the content of epic works (for example, the definition of epic in the 19th century as a reproduction of the dominance of an event over a person, or the modern judgment about a "generous" attitude towards a person) do not absorb the entirety of the history of epic genres.
The epic was formed different ways. Lyrical-epic, and on their basis, epic songs proper, like drama and lyrics, arose from ritual syncretic representations. The formation of the prose genres of the epic, in particular the fairy tale, is genetically connected with individually told myths. On early epic creativity and further development forms of artistic narration were also influenced by oral, and then recorded in writing, historical traditions.
In ancient and medieval literature, the folk heroic epic was very influential. Its formation marked the full and wide use of the possibilities of the epic kind. Carefully detailed, as attentive as possible to everything visible and full of plasticity, the narrative overcame naive-archaic poetics short messages characteristic of myth, parable and early fairy tale. The heroic epic is characterized by the "absolutization" of the distance between the characters and the one who narrates; the narrator has the gift of imperturbable calmness and "omniscience" (it was not for nothing that Homer was likened to the Olympian gods), and his image - the image of a creature that ascended above the world - gives the work a flavor of maximum objectivity. "... The narrator is alien to the actors, he not only surpasses the listeners with his balanced contemplation and sets them up with his story in this way, but, as it were, takes the place of necessity ..." (Schelling F., Philosophy of Art.).
But already in ancient prose, the distance between the narrator and the characters ceases to be absolute: in the novels The Golden Ass by Apuleius and Satyricon by Petronius, the characters themselves talk about what they saw and experienced. In the literature of recent three centuries, marked by the predominance of romantic genres, "personal", demonstrative-subjective narration dominates. On the one hand, the narrator's omniscience embraces the thoughts and feelings of the characters that are not expressed in their behavior. On the other hand, the narrator often looks at the world through the eyes of one of the characters, imbued with his mindset. Thus, the battle of Waterloo in Stendhal's "Parma Monastery" is reproduced by no means in a Homeric way: the author, as it were, reincarnated as the young Fabrizio, the distance between them practically disappeared, the points of view of both were combined (the way of narration inherent in L. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, G Flaubert, T. Mann, Faulkner). This combination is caused by the increased interest in the originality of the inner world of the characters, sparingly and incompletely manifested in their behavior. In this regard, a way of narration also arose, in which the story of what happened is at the same time a monologue of the hero (“The Last Day of the Condemned to Death” by V. Hugo, “The Meek” by Dostoevsky, “The Fall” by A. Camus). Internal monologue as a narrative form is absolutized in the literature of the "stream of consciousness" (J. Joyce, partly M. Proust). Ways of narration often alternate, different characters sometimes tell about events, and each in his own manner ("A Hero of Our Time" by M. Yu. Lermontov, "To Have and Not to Have" by E. Hemingway, Faulkner's "Mansion", "Lotta in Weimar" T .Manna). In monumental samples of E. 20 century. ("Jean Christophe" by R. Rolland, "Joseph and His Brothers" by T. Mann, "The Life of Klim Samgin" by M. Gorky, "Quiet Flows the Don" by M. A. Sholokhov) synthesize the old principle of "omniscience" of the narrator and personal, full of psychologism image shapes.
In novel prose of the 19th and 20th centuries. emotional and semantic connections between the statements of the narrator and the characters are important. Their interaction gives the artistry of speech an internal dialogism; the text of the works captures the totality of different-quality and conflicting consciousnesses. The "voices" of different persons can either be reproduced in turn, or combined in one utterance - a "two-voiced word". Narrative polyphony is not typical of the canonical genres of ancient eras, where the voice of the narrator reigned supreme, in the tone of which the characters also spoke. In the literature of the last two centuries, on the contrary, internal dialogism and polyphony of speech are widely represented, thanks to which the speech thinking of people and spiritual communication between them is mastered.

In a narrower and more specific sense of the word, the heroic epic as a genre (or group of genres), that is, a heroic narrative about the past, containing a complete picture of the people. life and representing in a harmonious unity a kind of epic world and heroes-heroes. Heroic Eros exists both in the bookstore and in oral, moreover, most of the book monuments of the Epos have folklore origins; the very features of the genre were formed at the folklore stage. Therefore, the heroic epic is often called the folk epic. However, such an identification is not entirely accurate, since the book forms of the Epos have their own stylistic and sometimes ideological specifics, and are certainly attributable to the folk Epos. Ballads, historical legends and songs, folk novel etc. can be considered a heroic epic only with significant reservations.
The Heroic Epic has come down to us both in the form of extensive epics, bookish ("Iliad", "Odyssey", "Mahabharata", "Ramayana", "Beowulf") or oral ("Dzhangar", "Alpamysh", "Manas", and in the form of short "epic songs" (Russian epics, South Slavic youthful songs, poems by Edda the Elder), partly grouped into cycles, less often - prose tales (sagas, Nart (Nart) epos).
The folk heroic epic arose (on the basis of the traditions of the mythological epic and heroic tale, later - historical legends and partly panegyrics) in the era of the decomposition of the primitive communal system and developed in ancient and feudal society, in conditions of partial preservation of patriarchal relations and ideas, in which the image typical of the heroic epic public relations as blood, ancestral, it might not yet represent a conscious artistic device.
In the archaic forms of the Epos (Karelian and Finnish runes, heroic poems of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples of Siberia, the Nart epic, the oldest parts of the Babylonian "Gilgamesh", Edda the Elder, "Sasuntsi David", "Amiraniani"), heroism still appears in a fabulously mythological shell (heroes possess not only military, but also "shamanic" power, epic enemies appear in the guise of fantastic monsters); main themes: the fight against "monsters", heroic matchmaking to the "betrothed", tribal revenge.
IN classical forms The epic heroes-leaders and warriors represent the historical nation, and their opponents are often identical to the historical "invaders", foreign and heterodox oppressors (for example, the Turks and Tatars in the Slavic Epics). The "epic time" here is no longer a mythical epoch of first creation, but a glorious historical past at the dawn of national history. The most ancient state political formations (for example, Mycenae - "Iliad", the Kiev state of Prince Vladimir - epics, the state of four Oirots - "Dzhangar") act as a national and social utopia turned into the past. In the classical forms of epics, historical (or pseudo-historical) persons and events are sung, although the very depiction of historical realities is subject to traditional plot schemes; sometimes ritual-mythological models are used. The epic background is usually the struggle of two epic tribes or nationalities (to a greater or lesser extent correlated with real story). In the center there is often a military event - a historical one (the Trojan War in the Iliad, the battle on Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata, on the Kosovo Field - in Serbian youthful songs), less often - a mythical one (the fight for Sampo in the Kalevala). Power is usually concentrated in the hands of an epic prince (Vladimir - in epics, Charlemagne - in the "Song of Roland"), but the bearers of active action are heroes, whose heroic characters, as a rule, are marked not only by courage, but also by independence, obstinacy, even fury (Achilles - in the Iliad, Ilya Muromets in epics). Obstinacy sometimes leads them to a conflict with the authorities (in the archaic epic - to the fight against God), but the directly social nature of the heroic deed and the commonality of patriotic goals for the most part provide a harmonious solution to the conflict. In the Epics, the actions (deeds) of the characters are predominantly drawn, and not their emotional experiences, but their own plot story is supplemented by numerous static descriptions and ceremonial dialogues. The stable and relatively homogeneous world of the Epos corresponds to a constant epic background and often measured verse; the integrity of the epic narrative is preserved when focusing on individual episodes.

1 The concept of the heroic epic.

• "Epos" - (from Greek) word, narration,

• one of the three types of literature that tells about various events of the past.

• The heroic epic of the peoples of the world is sometimes the most important and the only evidence of past eras. It goes back to ancient myths and reflects man's ideas about nature and the world.

• Initially, it was formed in oral form, then, acquiring new plots and images, it was fixed in writing.

• The heroic epic is the result of collective folk art. But this does not detract from the role of individual storytellers. The famous "Iliad" and "Odyssey", as you know, were recorded by a single author - Homer.

"The Tale of Gilgamesh" Sumerian epic 1800 BC

I table tells about the king of Uruk Gilgamesh, whose unrestrained prowess caused much grief to the inhabitants of the city. Deciding to create a worthy rival and friend for him, the gods molded Enkidu from clay and settled him among wild animals. Table II is devoted to the single combat of the heroes and their decision to use their strength for the good, chopping precious cedar in the mountains. Tables III, IV and V are dedicated to their preparations for the journey, travel and victory over Humbaba. Table VI is close in content to the Sumerian text about Gilgamesh and the heavenly bull. Gilgamesh rejects Inanna's love and rebukes her for her treachery. Offended, Inanna asks the gods to create a monstrous bull to destroy Uruk. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the bull; unable to take revenge on Gilgamesh, Inanna takes her anger out on Enkidu, who weakens and dies.

The story of his farewell to life (table VII) and Gilgamesh's lament for Enkidu (table VIII) become turning point epic tale. Shocked by the death of a friend, the hero sets off in search of immortality. His wanderings are described in IX and X tables. Gilgamesh wanders in the desert and reaches the mountains of Mashu, where scorpion men guard the passage through which the sun rises and sets. The "mistress of the gods" Siduri helps Gilgamesh find the shipbuilder Urshanabi, who ferried him through the "waters of death" disastrous for humans. On the opposite shore of the sea, Gilgamesh meets Utnapishtim and his wife, whom the gods gave eternal life in ancient times.

XI table contains famous story about the Flood and the construction of the ark, on which Utnapishtim saved the human race from destruction. Utnapishtim proves to Gilgamesh that his search for immortality is futile, since man is unable to overcome even the semblance of death - sleep. In parting, he reveals to the hero the secret of the "grass of immortality" growing at the bottom of the sea. Gilgamesh extracts the herb and decides to bring it to Uruk to give immortality to all people. On the way back, the hero falls asleep at the source; a snake rising from its depths eats grass, sheds its skin and, as it were, receives a second life. The text of Table XI known to us ends with a description of how Gilgamesh shows Urshanabi the walls of Uruk erected by him, hoping that his deeds will be preserved in the memory of posterity.

"Mahabharata" Indian epic of the 5th century AD.

"The Great Tale of the Descendants of Bharata" or "The Tale of great battle bharatov." Mahabharata is a heroic poem consisting of 18 books, or parv. In the form of an appendix, she has another 19th book - Harivansha, i.e., "The genealogy of Hari." In its current edition, the Mahabharata contains over one hundred thousand slokas, or couplets, and is eight times as long as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey taken together.

The main story of the epic is dedicated to the history of irreconcilable enmity between the Kauravas and the Pandavas - the sons of two brothers Dhritarashtra and Pandu. In this enmity and the struggle caused by it, according to the legend, the numerous nations and the tribes of India, north and south. It ends in a terrible, bloody battle in which almost all members of both sides perish. Those who have won the victory at such a high price unite the country under their rule. Thus, the main idea of ​​the main story is the unity of India.

Medieval European epic

• "Nibelungenlied"- a medieval Germanic epic poem written by an unknown author in the late 12th - early 13th century. Belongs to the number of the most famous epic works of mankind. Its content is reduced to 39 parts (songs), which are called "adventures".

• The song tells about the marriage of the dragon slayer Siekfried to the Burgundian princess Kriemhild, his death due to Kriemhild's conflict with Brunhilda, the wife of her brother Gunther, and then about Kriemhild's revenge for the death of her husband.

• There is reason to believe that the epic was composed around 1200, that the place of its origin should be sought on the Danube, in the area between Passau and Vienna.

• Various assumptions have been made in science regarding the identity of the author. Some scientists considered him a shpilman, a wandering singer, others were inclined to think that he was a clergyman (perhaps in the service of the Bishop of Passau), others that he was an educated knight of a low family.

The Nibelungenlied combines two initially independent plots: the legend of the death of Siegfried and the legend of the end of the Burgundian house. They form, as it were, two parts of the epic. Both these parts are not fully coordinated, and between them one can notice certain contradictions. So, in the first part, the Burgundians receive a generally negative assessment and look rather gloomy in comparison with the bright hero Siegfried they kill, whose services and help they used so widely, while in the second part they appear as valiant knights who courageously meet their tragic fate. The name "Nibelungs" in the first and second parts of the epic is used differently: in the first, these are fabulous creatures, northern treasure keepers and heroes in the service of Siegfried, in the second - Burgundians.

The epic primarily reflects the chivalrous worldview of the Staufen era ( Staufen (or Hohenstaufen) - the imperial dynasty that ruled Germany and Italy in the XII - the first half of the XIII century. The Staufen, especially Frederick I Barbarossa (1152-1190), tried to carry out a wide external expansion, which ultimately accelerated the weakening of the central government and contributed to the strengthening of the princes. At the same time, the Staufen era was characterized by a significant but short-lived cultural upsurge.).

Kalevala

• Kalevala - Karelian - Finnish poetic epic. Consists of 50 runes (songs). It is based on Karelian folk epic songs. The processing of Kalevala belongs to Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), who linked individual folk epic songs, making a certain selection of variants of these songs and smoothing out some of the bumps.

• The name "Kalevala" given to the poem by Lönnrot is the epic name of the country in which Finnish folk heroes live and act. Suffix lla means place of residence, so Kalevalla- this is the place of residence of Kalev, the mythological ancestor of the heroes Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen, sometimes called his sons.

• In Kalevala there is no main plot that would connect all the songs together.

It opens with a legend about the creation of the earth, sky, luminaries and the birth of the main character of the Finns, Väinämöinen, by the daughter of air, who arranges the earth and sows barley. The following tells about the various adventures of the hero, who, by the way, meets the beautiful maiden of the North: she agrees to become his bride if he miraculously creates a boat from fragments of her spindle. Having started work, the hero wounds himself with an ax, cannot stop the bleeding and goes to the old healer, who is told a legend about the origin of iron. Returning home, Väinämöinen raises the wind with spells and transfers the blacksmith Ilmarinen to the country of the North, Pohjola, where he, according to the promise given by Väinämöinen, forges for the mistress of the North a mysterious object that gives wealth and happiness - the Sampo mill (runes I-XI).

The following runes (XI-XV) contain an episode about the adventures of the hero Lemminkäinen, a militant sorcerer and seducer of women. The story then returns to Väinämöinen; describes his descent into the underworld, his stay in the womb of the giant Viipunen, last three words needed to create a wonderful boat, the hero's departure to Pohjola in order to receive the hand of a northern maiden; however, the latter preferred the blacksmith Ilmarinen to him, whom she marries, and the wedding is described in detail and wedding songs are given outlining the duties of the wife and husband (XVI-XXV).

• Further runes (XXVI-XXXI) are again occupied by the adventures of Lemminkäinen in Pohjola. The episode about the sad fate of the hero Kullervo, who unknowingly seduced his own sister, as a result of which both, brother and sister, commit suicide (runes XXXI-XXXVI), belongs in depth of feeling, sometimes reaching true pathos, to the best parts of the whole poem.

Further runes contain a lengthy story about the common enterprise of three Finnish heroes - obtaining the Sampo treasure from Pohjola, about making a kantele by Väinämöinen, playing on which he enchants all nature and lulls the population of Pohjola, about the Sampo being taken away by the heroes, about their persecution by the sorceress-mistress of the North, about the fall Sampo in the sea, about the blessings rendered by Väinämöinen to his native country through the fragments of Sampo, about his struggle with various disasters and monsters sent by the mistress of Pohjola to Kalevala, about the hero’s wondrous game on a new kantele created by him when the first one fell into the sea, and about his return to them the sun and moon hidden by the mistress of Pohjola (XXXVI-XLIX).

The last rune contains a folk apocryphal legend about the birth of a miraculous child by the virgin Maryatta (the birth of the Savior). Väinämöinen gives advice to kill him, as he is destined to surpass the power of the Finnish hero, but the two-week-old baby showers Väinämöinen with accusations of injustice, and the ashamed hero, having sung in last time marvelous song, leaves forever in a canoe from Finland, giving way to the baby Maryatta, the recognized ruler of Karelia.

• Other peoples of the world have developed their own heroic epics: in England - "Beowulf", in Spain - "The Song of My Sid", in Iceland - "Elder Edda",

• in France - "Song of Roland", in Yakutia - "Olonkho", in the Caucasus - "Nart epic", in Kyrgyzstan - "Manas", in Russia - "epic epic", etc.

• Despite the fact that the heroic epic of peoples was composed in different historical settings, it has many common features and similar features. First of all, this concerns the repetition of themes and plots, as well as the common characteristics of the main characters. For example:

• General, typological and nationally unique

  in the heroic epic. Similarity of the heroic epic different peoples Western Europe

  Heroic epic: concept, content, typology

  An analysis of special literature shows that many researchers of foreign literature turned to the study of poetic heroic poems. Therefore, the term "epos" turned out to be saturated with various meanings and is now used to refer to different types literary works.

  Let us give examples of several meanings of the word "epos". The term "epos" in Russian can act as both a noun (epos) and an adjective (epic). As an adjective, it serves to refer to narrative genres as opposed to lyrical and dramatic genres.

  The noun "epos" denotes a certain type of literary work, that is, a literary genre. The works designated as epic are very diverse, and no definition has yet been presented that would fit all types. But there are several partial definitions. For example:

  epic is a long narrative in verse;

  it is a long heroic narrative in verse;

  it is a long narrative poem in a lofty style, talking about traditional or historical heroes, etc.

  None of them can be used to determine

  genre division. A long narrative, heroic or not, can also be told in prose or through combinations of prose and verse. /3,6/.

  A heroic narrative poem may be brief, no longer than a few dozen lines. A long narrative poem does not necessarily recount physical struggles and heroic deeds. What is a "heroic" feat? Kill a strong opponent in a duel? To risk own life to save another person? Endure torture? Overcome your own "nature"? And these are just some of the challenges of genre definition.

  According to the type of organization of the texture of the work, epics can be classified as follows: poetic form, prose, or combinations thereof. /10/.

  According to the organization of the plot: the plot tells about the struggle in which two groups oppose each other; single heroes are usually representatives of groups. These groups can be two peoples (for example, Russians and Tatars), tribes, clans; or gods and demons (eg Greek Olympians and Titans). Opponents meet in physical combat.

  In polytheistic cultures, human opponents can use their ability to magic (witchcraft; deities use their own physical strength like human warriors and their miraculous abilities, which correlate with human magical powers). The form of combat is either a duel between individuals or a battle between groups of warriors.

  Conflict arises over power, fame, or wealth (which includes possession of women). According to the type of relationship to reality: the epic belongs to the realistic genres.

  In polytheistic cultures, the ability of man to witchcraft, magic, and the ability of the gods to work miracles are included in the general idea of ​​reality.

  Oral composition, oral performance and oral transmission of the epic give rise to formality and require ready-made models at all levels of the work.

  Oral performance can range from perfect impromptu to faithful reproduction of a memorized text, or reading aloud and singing from a recorded text.

  A recorded work can be at any stage, from a conscientious recording of a single oral performance to a completely original work. In between these extremes lie the various results of editing and rewriting such records (now called "traditional" epic, which includes, for example, the Finnish "Kalevala", the Indian classical "Mahabharata").

  So, let's try to summarize all the data obtained about the oral heroic epic.

  Firstly, this work can be presented both in verse and in prose, which is not of great importance for the genre.

  Secondly, at the core heroic poem lies the opposition to each other of two groups: in battle or through their representatives in a duel, in a physical struggle with the help of sorcery, magic and miracles.

  Thirdly, the works are mostly performed in a realistic manner.

  Fourthly, the heroic epic has a central status for a given culture; if it does not have religious aspects, its status is average and inferior to the status of religious literature, which occupies a central position in culture.

  Fifthly, works are composed and performed orally with intensive use of literary formulaic means. Oral performance may be recorded by hand. The works of the past have come down to us in a more or less thoroughly edited or revised form.

  And now let's move on to the direct classification of the heroic epic.

  Thus, three groups of heroic poems can be distinguished.

  The first group is the "episodic" type: individual works do not depend on each other and have repeatability in the same way as folk tales.

  It has many characters, many of whom are historical figures, but for the most part they are taken out of their real historical context, reduced to simple names and play standard roles in the narrative.

  All characters are thought of as belonging to the same generation and equal in status. Here and there, the father or son of a warrior enters the scene. For example, in the South Slavic epic, characters who lived in the 14th century can coexist in one work with characters who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries.

  Plots rarely tell the real story. historical event; they are typical, repeating stories. None of the characters have an epic biography.

  The second type of heroic epic tradition is the biographical epic. The tradition is built around central hero and traces his biography. It can be continued by the biography of his son and grandson.

  The central hero is the king, the head of the tribe, and the like, and the other knights are his paladins. The historicity of the central hero, and even more so of his paladins, is often debatable. Again, all knights belong to the same generation and interact with each other. Never, or almost never, is a work performed entirely at one time, rather it is a chain of independent works, each of which repeats the episodic nature of the epic and is performed separately.

  The differences from the episodic epic lie in the hierarchical organization of the characters, in the figure of the central hero, in the episodes of his birth, growing up and death, which form a whole tradition. All this is absent in the episodic epic tradition. An example is the Armenian, Tibetan and Central Asian Turkic oral epic.

  The third type of heroic epic is the "epic cycle": a group of completed works, in each of which the same characters act. The works themselves are independent of each other and refer to the same epic plots as the works of the episodic epic.

  The characters are perceived as belonging to the same generation. They are hierarchically related to each other as paladins of a central actor who is their overlord.

  Separate whole works are not subject to an organizational principle, which could be the biography of the central actor.

  The epic cycle does not provide a detailed biography. For example: the Russian epic tradition does not give biographical description the life of Prince Vladimir as the bearer of supreme power.

  Like folk tales, the same epic story exists in many cultures; epic works, like folk tales, are repetitive. There is no people who would not keep the memory of their past.

  When, in the development of his culture, he reaches the stage at which writing arises, this memory is deposited in the form of calendar records, annals, and chronicles. But even before writing, even in the centuries before their state, tribal, tribal life, any people told and sang about the deeds and events of their past and current life, about their gods and the exploits of their heroes.

  This is how a legendary and historical song, sung by ear, adorned to a greater or lesser extent with fabulous and mythological fantasy, arises.

  The era in which the heroic epic of any nation is created always imprints on these poetic creations the stamp of the environment in which and for which they were created. The epics are as diverse as the fate of countries and peoples, as national characters like a language.

  Fundamentals of literary criticism. Analysis of a work of art [ tutorial] Esalnek Asiya Yanovna

  Heroic epic

  Heroic epic

  This paragraph talks about different forms heroic epic.

  Historically, the first type of narrative genres was the heroic epic, which in itself is heterogeneous, because it includes works similar in problem orientation, but different in age and type of characters. Most early form A heroic epic can be considered a mythological epic, the main character of which is the so-called ancestor, a cultural hero who performs the functions of the organizer of the world: he produces fire, invents crafts, protects the family from demonic forces, fights monsters, establishes rituals and customs. The closest thing to this type of heroes is the character of Greek mythology Prometheus.

  Another version of the heroic epos is distinguished by the fact that the hero combines the features of a cultural ancestor hero and a brave warrior, knight, hero, fighting for the territory and independence of a tribe, people or state. Such heroes include, for example, the characters of the Karelian-Finnish epic, known as the Kalevala, or Kyrgyz epic called "Manas".

  The most mature forms of the heroic epic include the Greek Iliad, the Spanish Song of Side, the French Song of Roland, Serbian youthful songs, and Russian epics. They depict heroes in the struggle for the interests of the whole people, mostly in battles with foreign invaders. Of course, such heroes are extremely idealized and represent not real historical persons, but a utopian world that has gone into the past, in which the moods of the singer and his listeners seemed to merge, and the whole narration received an emotionally sublime coloring.

  Works of the heroic epic in its various variations are found in almost all peoples on early stages development of verbal creativity, but chronologically at different times. So, Homer's Iliad dates back to the 8th century BC, Russian epics date back to the 11th-15th centuries of the Christian era. At the same time, such works have different names for different peoples: epics, thoughts, epics, songs about deeds, sagas, runes, olonkho, etc.

  It follows from the foregoing that the typological quality of the neck, which gives grounds to classify works as a genre of heroic epos, consists, firstly, in emphasizing the strength, courage, courage of the hero, and secondly, in emphasizing the purpose and meaning of his actions, their focus on the common good, whether it be the dispensation of the world or the fight against enemies. Such aspirations are the German philosopher of the early 19th century G.W.F. Hegel called substantial, that is, universally significant, and the period when heroes of this type began to appear and works glorifying them, "the heroic state of the world." Objective prerequisites for the emergence of genres of the heroic type could have developed later, especially in connection with the understanding of national liberation wars, in particular the fight against fascism in the 40s of the XX century. The reflection of these processes is easy to find in the works different writers dedicated to World War II.

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