epic(other Greek ἔπος - “word”, “narration”) - 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. Live perception reader is always connected 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 J. W. Goethe and F. Schiller, slowing down motives are an essential feature epic kind literature in general. 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 sphere 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 entire 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 the further formation of forms artistic narrative Oral, and then recorded in writing, historical traditions also influenced.
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, maximally attentive to everything visible and full of plasticity, the narrative overcame the naive-archaic poetics of 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 The Satyricon by Petronius, the characters themselves talk about what they have seen 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 an increased interest in the originality inner peace heroes, 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, events are sometimes told different heroes, and each in his own way ("A Hero of Our Time" by M. Yu. Lermontov, "To Have and Not to Have" by E. Hemingway, "Mansion" by Faulkner, "Lotta in Weimar" by T. Mann). 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 two recent centuries On the contrary, internal dialogue 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 book and oral form, and 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 folk epic. Ballads, historical legends and songs, a 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 traditions and partly panegyrics) in the era of the decay 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 of social relations as typical of the heroic epic as blood, tribal could not yet represent a conscious artistic device.
IN archaic forms Epos (Karelian and Finnish runes, heroic poems of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples of Siberia, 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 the classical forms of the epic, the heroes-leaders and warriors represent the historical people, and their opponents are often identical with the historical "invaders", foreign and infidel 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 oldest state political formations (for example, Mycenae - "Iliad", Kievan state Prince Vladimir - epics, the state of the 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 usually consists of the struggle of two epic tribes or nationalities (to a greater or lesser extent correlated with real history). 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 heroes are drawn mainly, and not their emotional experiences, but their own plot story complemented 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.
Dec 26 2016
Heroic epic- one of the most characteristic and popular genres European Middle Ages. In France and Spain it existed in the form of poems called gestures , i.e. songs about deeds, exploits.
The thematic basis of the gesture is made up of real historical events, most of which belong to the VIII - X centuries. Probably immediately after these events arose oral tradition and about them.
Originating from early medieval, the heroic epic took on a classical form and experienced a period of active existence in the 12th, 13th, and partly 14th centuries. Its written fixation also belongs to the same time.
In the heroic epic of the Middle Ages, signs can be found:
1. confidently wins the first from mythology. National history either dominates or completely replaces it. In the most pure form this is manifested in the Spanish epic (entirely only “about my Side” 1140) - he was born on late material. Its plot dates from the middle of the 11th century.
2. Essential The importance of religious Christian motives .
3. Increased patriotic motivation. And the material motivation of the characters (“The Song of Side” - for the first time in the epic there are numbers accounting: to perform feats you need to have money).
4. More and more distinct Influence of chivalric ideology and culture(This is what explains the transformation).
5. Signs of removal of these works from folklore becomes more obvious: the dramatism (growing to tragedy) intensifies, these epics are characterized by a more harmonious composition, a large epic form is taking shape in which these works have come down to us (the principles of cyclization are preserved, but generic cyclization is more and more supplanted by national-ethical cyclization, they add up to national cycles, tribal values are replaced by feudal, state and family values).
The French epic is a political epic. There is no politics at all in archaic epics. The Spanish epic is also political.
One of the main themes of the heroic epic- disinterested, driven only by love for the motherland, the service of loyal vassals to a weak, vacillating, often ungrateful king, who is constantly threatened by either internal or external enemies.
On the one hand, the heroic epic is characterized by a fairly large plot variety, on the other hand, it knows only a few stable types of characters, moving from gesture to gesture.
Such heroes (for example, "The Song of Roland"):
1) king (Karl)
2) epic hero - valiant knight, ready to spare no life for the sake of the fatherland, faith and the king (Roland)
3) associates, creating a kind of background or motivation for his exploits (Olivier)
4) "traitor" (Ganelon)
5) "anti-hero" - Marsilius (King of Zaragoza)
THE SONG ABOUT ROLAND- French folk heroic epic.
The most famous and oldest poem in this cycle.
Plot core: the rearguard of the Franks, led by Ronald, is attacked by a horde of Saracens. The treacherous attack is the fruit of the revenge of Roland's stepfather.
The time of the creation of the poem is not exactly known. About ten versions of redactions have survived, which date back to the 14th century. Of these, the most ancient Oxford List (1170). The events themselves are 778. The oldest about the battle of Ronceval, which took place in August 778, is contained in the oldest biography of Charlemagne from 878 (Einhard). According to this description, the Basques wrote.
The Song of Roland has two storylines:
- the struggle of two worlds: Muslim and Christian(the struggle of Charles with King Marsilius).
- Ganilon's revenge on his stepson Roland. There is enmity between them even before the embassy. Death of Roland, execution.
The first plot is larger and has general meaning. The second plot fills with vital details, it also connects the "Song of Roland" with the cycle of evil feudal lords. Giving advice to Carl, Ganilon advises appointing Roland.
Ganilon is not in the most ancient plots. The Ganilon line itself probably entered the plot about Roland no earlier than 860, since modern science associates Ganilon with the Archbishop of Sanya Vinyl, who betrayed Charles the Bald, his trial took place in 859, there was no execution over him.
Two plots correspond to two conflicts in the song:
1. between Christian and Muslim world, which develops from the point of view of the monologue: "non-Christ is not right, but a Christian is right."
The motive of religious intolerance and the struggle of the two worlds should be compared with "Song of Sid". In the Spanish epic there is no motive of filthy non-Christians, they knew the merit of the Moors. They are fighting not against a foreign religion, but for the liberation of their land. The Song of Sid is very delicate in this matter: it is tolerance at its very literally this word.
2. between vassal loyalty and feudal right to strife, which leads to betrayal. The declaration of the vassals is put into the mouth of Roland: the vassal must suffer for the lord.
The noble feudal lord Ganilon does not consider himself a traitor, he directly and publicly announced at the beginning of the song about his enmity with Roland: the right to strife is his legal right. The barons of Karl in the court scene do not see him as a traitor, they justify Ganilon. Only with the help of God's judgment, the duel of the parties, it turns out that it is possible for Charles to punish Ganilon. God's judgment puts an end to the relationship between the vassal and the king and the right of the vassal to internecine strife (in the Song of Sid, too, only with the help of God's judgment).
Both conflicts are resolved in favor of Charles - the personification of the Christianization of Europe.
Side story: Roland-Olivier line.
It was not in the original version, it appeared only in the 11th century. Plot conflict: "Olivier is wise, and our Roland is brave" or "Roland is hot, and Olivier is reasonable." Roland refuses to blow his horn three times. Archbishop Trubin will put an end to their dispute. Roland refuses to blow the horn, since his epic immensity conflicts with his vassal duty, and this determines the tragic guilt of the hero: he cannot allow political blasphemy to reach him and the soldiers at home, that he was afraid of the Moors. He cannot change his epic heroic nature. “Roland dies not so much under the blows of enemies, but under the weight of his heroic character". Olivier, offering to blow the horn, suggests the following denouement: he considers the pride of the Rolands to be the reason for the defeat of the soldiers. Roland himself is also aware of his guilt.
The ideal of chivalry will be based on valor, equipped with wisdom and virtue, valor subordinate to the Christian canon.
The Song of Roland is a song of defeat. The subject of defeat is chosen, since the panegyric does not have such possibilities: it could not have been better to show the ideal archpastor and the ideal monk, the strength of the spirit of Roland himself, except through such a sacrifice.
The scene of Roland's death is described as a rite, a ritual of the death of an ideal Christian warrior: he is not wounded, but his head hurts terribly (trumpeting, he tore the veins in his temples). Roland faints several times, he cries, the archpastor dies in his arms, goes to die.
Roland enters the depths of the Saracen land, climbs a hill, strikes three times with a sword, lies down on the grass, under a pine tree, with his head towards Spain, feeling how he is dying, remembers the battle, heroism, relatives and king, but he does not forget his soul either: confession, repentance and the rite of the glove (the overlord handed a glove to his vassal, performed the service - he returns the glove) - before his death, Roland stretches the glove up, passing it to God, and the archangel Michael transfers Roland's soul to paradise.
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in the heroic epic. The similarity of the heroic epic of different peoples Western Europe
Heroic epic: concept, content, typology
An analysis of special literature shows that the study of poetic heroic poems many researchers have addressed foreign literature. 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, i.e. 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;
is a long, lofty narrative poem about traditional or historical heroes, and so on.
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? Risking your 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 for 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 does not have of great importance for the genre.
Secondly, the basis of the heroic poem is the confrontation between two groups: in battle or through their representatives in a duel, in a physical struggle with the help of witchcraft, 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 which are historical figures, but for the most part they are torn out of their real historical context, are 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 about a real historical event; they are typical, repeating stories. None of the characters have an epic biography.
The second type of heroic epic tradition is a biographical epic. The tradition is built around the central character 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 belong to the same epic stories, as the works of the episodic epic.
The characters are perceived as belonging to the same generation. They are hierarchically related to each other like paladins of the 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 give detailed biography. For example: the Russian epic tradition does not provide a biographical description of 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 the legendary and historical song, to a greater or lesser extent adorned with fabulous and mythological fiction.
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. Epics are as diverse as the fate of countries and peoples, as national characters, as language.
epic(ancient Greek ἔπος - “word”, “narration”) - a heroic narrative about the past, containing a holistic picture of folk life and representing in a harmonious unity a kind of epic world and heroes-heroes. .
medieval epic
medieval epic- heroic folk tale, which was created by wandering singers or people during the Middle Ages. The epic was intended to be sung, accompanied by a harp or viola (small violin).
GENERAL FEATURES OF THE HEROIC EPO OF THE MATURE MIDDLE AGES
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. The historical theme in the epic expanded, supplanting the fabulous mythological one, the importance of Christian motifs increased and patriotic pathos intensified, a large epic form and 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 legends (still continuing to use, of course, old plot and language clichés dating 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 take the form of opposing 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 epic specifics vassal loyalty (in the "Song of the Nibelungs", "Songs of Roland", "Songs of my Sid"), as a rule, merges with loyalty to the clan, tribe, home country, the state. A characteristic figure in the epic of this time is 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 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 when
idealization of courtly forms of life, the epic basically preserves 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 extensive cyclization is also familiar to oral art (for example, in the folklore of Central Asia), the creation of epic works of large volume and their addition into cycles is mainly 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.
1). The question of the origin of the heroic epic - one of the most difficult in literary science - has given rise to 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 small lyrical-epic songs-cantilenas, 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" to a certain extent were brought together in his theory of the origin of the heroic epic by Alexander Nikolaevich Veselovsky. The essence of his theory is as follows. The beginning of epic creativity was small songs - lyrical-epic cantilenas, born as a response to events that excited the popular imagination. After a while, the attitude to the events described 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, are formed into cycles. 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 in the formation of the epic, the individual author plays a decisive role. The writing 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 Northern Europe- the process of the 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.
In heroic poems created different nations Europe, a lot 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 image served artistic language having common roots in European folklore. But at the same time, in the heroic epic of each individual people many unique, nationally specific features.
The most significant of the Heroic poems of the peoples of Western Europe are: French - "The Song of Roland", German - "The Song of the Nibelungs", Spanish - "The Song of My Sid". These three great poems allow us 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. The historical theme in the epic expanded, supplanting the fabulous mythological one, the importance of Christian motifs increased and patriotic pathos intensified, a large epic form and 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 legends (still continuing to use, of course, old plot and language clichés dating 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 clan, tribe, native country, state. A characteristic figure in the epic of this time is 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 folk 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 limits. 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 tragedy (in the “Nibelungs” 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.
Stylistic features epics are now largely determined by the departure from folklore and deeper processing folk 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".
Minor 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.
Feudal society, with its sharp class struggle, differentiation, with a kind of pathos of class knightly heroism and features of Christian religiosity, gave rise to dozens of epic tales. It was in France, where feudal relations developed in classical form, there was such a large number of heroic poems. Differing in theme, volume and form, these poems far from equally reflected the broad popular interest. Some of them told about bloody internecine strife, about vengeful and greedy invader barons, who recognized the right of the strong as the only law and considered violence and arbitrariness to be the basis of their morality; a convincing example of this kind of poem is the poem "Raoul de Cambrai". Personal interest prevailed in these works, and faithful service to the suzerain and the state lost its obligatory character for the "unfaithful barons." In other epics, the theme of fidelity dominated, and the fate of a traitor, a traitor to the motherland and a violator of the vassal oath led him to retribution and a sad end. This theme is most clearly developed in the poems that tell about the wars of Charlemagne, and especially in the Song of Roland.
The actual events of the 8th century formed the core of the Song of Roland. In 778, in the Pyrenees, the troops of Charlemagne, who were returning from the Spanish campaign, were attacked by the Basques. In a bloody battle, the best regiments were destroyed, common destiny, according to close biographer Karl Einhard, the best commanders did not escape. This author's "Biography of Charlemagne" says: "Eggihard, the royal steward, Anselm, the count palatine and Hruodland (i.e. Roland.), head of the Breton march, were killed in this battle." A private episode of the battle with the Basques, co-religionists of the French (Franks), underwent a significant rethinking: instead of the Basques, formidable Muslim Arabs appeared, who captured significant areas in Spain and more than once invaded France. The defeat at Ronceval did not cover the French with shame, but only contributed to revealing their courage, ability to stand to death, defending their homeland and covering the rear of the main retreating forces. The historical governor of the Breton March became the main character of the epic legend - Roland, his clash with his stepfather Gwenelon and the betrayal of the latter became the basis of the plot. There were also new details characterizing the warring camps and their generals. The historical Charlemagne was opposed to the Saracen king Marsilius, a fictitious person. The events and their participants shifted in time and space: the crusades of the 11th century gave a new ideological coloring to the entire poem as a whole. Although historical accuracy is not observed in the "Song of Roland", however, the features of the distant past found their poetic interpretation in it.
