“Our literature suddenly appeared in the 18th century,” wrote Pushkin, knowing full well that its origins go back to ancient times. With the word "suddenly" Pushkin emphasized the special, unparalleled nature of the dynamic development of Russia at that time. 18th century - this is the era of the rapid formation of new Russian literature. For several decades, Russian literature has made up for its backlog from Western literature. The literary phenomena of this period are so compressed in time that elements of sentimentalism appear already in the era of classicism; new syllabo-tonic versification(see more about this below) coexists with archaic verses. Speaking of literature XVIII century, we often encounter such phenomena that, while not being of interest from an aesthetic, artistic point of view, are of great importance from the point of view of historical and literary process. Poems by V.K. Trediakovsky is almost impossible to read, but he is the creator of modern versification. And none other than Pushkin stood up for Trediakovsky when I.I. Lazhechnikov, in his historical novel The Ice House, brought out the poet of the 18th century. in the form of an insignificant jester: “His philological and grammatical researches are very remarkable. He had the most extensive ideas about Russian versification ... In general, the study of Trediakovsky is more useful than the study of our other writers.
Periodization of Russian literature of the 18th century. traditionally relies on the leading stylistic trends in the artistic culture of that time. In general, it can be presented in the form of the following table:
1. Literature of the time of Peter the Great
First quarter of the 18th century was marked by major transformations in the economic, political and cultural life of Russia. Peter's reforms marked the beginning of the process of Europeanization of Russia, and this process also captured the region literary creativity. The literature of the new time decisively emerged from under the influence of the Church, assimilated the European concept of enlightened absolutism, having before its eyes the living example of Peter I. Peter I, in turn, sought to use literature for state needs, to promote new ideas. The especially instructive, openly didactic character of Russian literature of the Petrine era will be preserved throughout the entire 18th century. and acquires a new quality in the Russian classics of the 19th century.
However, Russian literature was the first quarter XVIII V. in terms of its artistic capabilities, it clearly lagged behind the needs of the time, from the scope of Peter's reforms. It is not for nothing that the Petrine era is often called the most “non-literary era” in Russian history. Literature 1700-1720s is a strange picture of a mixture of old and new, it as a whole is still of a transitional nature. In the time of Peter the Great, the old handwritten tradition of Old Russian literature continues to exist and develop - it remains on the periphery of the general literary process in Russia until the end of the 18th century, and some of its phenomena survive to this day (Old Believer estachological writings and journalism).
The secularization of culture brought about the liberation artistic creativity; another thing is that the writer often did not know how to dispose of this freedom. Literature under Peter not only serves practical purposes, it also entertains, masters new, once forbidden topics for it. Old Russian literature almost did not know the love theme (with rare exceptions, love is interpreted as an obsession of the devil; only conjugal love was recognized). In the era of Peter the Great, love lyrics (the so-called "kants") spread, in which folklore images from folk poetry peacefully coexisted with ancient mythological motifs. Secular story with an exciting adventure story. These stories were distributed in manuscripts, were anonymous and were built according to the type popular at the end of the XVII - early XVIII centuries translated short stories and adventure novels. However, the hero of these stories was a young man, typical of the Petrine era. Usually humble, but educated, energetic and enterprising, he achieved fame, wealth, recognition solely due to his personal merits. Such is the "Story of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky and Princess Heraclius of the Florentine land." The style of this story is distinguished by amazing eclecticism - along with the traditional gallant vocabulary of translated chivalric novels - barbarism and clericalism, dating back to the business writing of Peter the Great, the language of the Vedomosti and Chimes newspapers, and even the language of translated textbooks on natural science and exact sciences. These stories most clearly revealed the Achilles heel of Petrine culture as a whole: the lack of literary language, which would be able to adequately convey those new concepts in the field of culture, philosophy, politics, which the era of Peter's reforms brought with it. The task of creating a new literary Russian language was bequeathed by the writers of the Petrine era to a new generation of writers.
In Petrine literature, the traditions of school drama continued to develop. Here the emergence of a school theater within the walls of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy played a big role. Religious stories in this dramatic genre were supplanted by secular ones, telling about political topical events, containing panegyrics to Peter I and his associates. In the future, the journalistic and panegyric nature of dramaturgy is further enhanced. The genre of school drama occupied a central place in the work of Feofan Prokopovich (1681-1736), a brilliant orator, publicist, playwright and poet. The tragicomedy "Vladimir" (1705) occupies a central place in his work. Depicting in this play the events connected with the adoption of Christianity in Rus' under Vladimir, Feofan allegorically glorified the transformations of Peter and satirically ridiculed his opponents. The tragicomedy "Vladimir" carried the features of the future classicist dramaturgy: the conflict between passion and reason, the unity of action and time, the clarity and clarity of the composition.
PERIODIZATION OF LITERATURE OF THE 18TH CENTURY
Course of lectures on literature of the 18th century
for students of the Faculty of Russian Language, Literature and Foreign Languages with a degree in Philology
Lecturer - Atajanyan I.A.
Lecture 1
The decisive stage in the life of the Russian people and in its literature in the 18th century was the period of Peter the Great's transformations, when in the face of European countries there appeared "A united, homogeneous, young, rapidly rising Russia, almost invulnerable and completely inaccessible to conquest" (K. Marx).
The “new” Russian literature, largely prepared by the previous period of its development, in the 30s and 40s, basically completes the transition from the medieval genre system to a system of genres of a new type, striving for synchronous inclusion in the pan-European process. The completion of the secularization (liberation from church spiritual influence) of Russian literature also belongs to this time.
The growing interest of Russian writers of the 18th century in the human person deepened the humanistic principle in art. And the educational basis of Russian literature of the 18th century entailed the assertion of the extra-class value of a person, the development of anti-feudal morality.
Since the 60s of the 18th century, along with the emergence of a sentimental-pre-romantic trend, the growth of realistic tendencies has sharply increased, inextricably linked with the further development of the satirical line. Russian literature began to look for approaches to social analysis, explaining character as the result of the impact on a person of the environment, external circumstances.
By the end of the century, a synthesis of personal and social principles is planned within the limits of one work (the ode "To Mercy" by Karamzin and the work of Radishchev). In the top work of literature of the XVIII century. - "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" Radishchev will come to a firm conclusion about the need for an uprising of the people.
In the history of Russian literature of the 18th century, four periods of development can be outlined:
The first period is the literature of the time of Peter the Great. It is still transitional. The main feature is the intensive process of secularization. The leading genre is anonymous stories. The first lyrical works appear, satire is born.
The second period (1730 - 1750) is characterized by the formation of classicism as the leading literary trend, the creation of a new genre system, and the in-depth development of the literary language.
The third period (1760 - the first half of the 70s) - the further evolution of classicism, the flowering of satire, the emergence of prerequisites for the emergence of sentimentalism (pre-romanticism).
The fourth period (the last quarter of a century) - the beginning of the crisis of classicism, the formation of sentimentalism, the strengthening of realistic tendencies. With the publication of "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" by A.N. Radishchev, the most progressive part of Russian literature becomes the bearer of revolutionary ideas.
(LITERATURE OF THE PETROVSK AGE)
Russian literature XVI II century grows on the soil prepared by ancient Russian writing and oral folk art. Russian literature of the 18th century, both chronologically and in essence, begins with the era of Peter I. The huge economic and social changes that took place in the Russian state at the beginning of the century could not but affect the spiritual demands of society. The art and literature of the medieval type, which dominated Rus', could no longer satisfy these demands. The first decades of the century are the time of the formation of a new art, the time of the creation of literature that is qualitatively different from the works of ancient Russian literature.
The most important sign of the new in literary creativity was the view of writers on reality from the point of view of the nationwide. The horizon of the author's vision is expanding. Literary heroes now live not only in Russia - they often go to "foreign countries", and the very image of other countries is gradually freed from the touch of fantasy. The number of translations from modern Western European literature is growing. Increasingly, one hears in Russian literature the words that every person is a member of society, that this imposes certain duties on him: a person must bring real benefit to society, the state (one of the ideas of Kantemirov's satires). State institutions become the subject of poeticization (Trediakovsky's Tilemakhida, Lomonosov's solemn odes).
At the beginning of the century, other, deep tendencies appeared in verbal art: an attempt was made to reflect human psychology. Such attempts were also made in prose (Trediakovsky's Journey to the Island of Love based on Talman's novel). But a particularly significant result was the development of love lyrics. A whole sphere of human life, previously almost unknown to literature, has now become accessible to artistic depiction.
These new literary tendencies in many respects contradicted each other, came into conflict with each other and did not always acquire their finished stylistic face. Along with attempts to depict reality as truthfully and accurately as possible, there also arose a desire to go into the world of fantasy (usually drawn from folklore), into the realm of the exotic, the bizarre and unexpected (in the plays of the Kunst theater, partly in stories - “histories”).
If Russian literature of the 18th century as a whole can be conditionally called a creative laboratory that prepared the artistic achievements of the 19th century, then the experimental principle manifested itself especially strongly in the literature of the first decades of the century. Most fully this feature of the literary process of 1700-1730. expressed in his work VK Trediakovsky.
Thus, the work of writers of the beginning of the century is not united by any one or even several literary trends in the modern sense of the word (as will be typical for the literature of the second half of the 18th century and subsequent times). As in the 17th century, literary life is still developing spontaneously. Writing has not yet become a large and internally organized part of the ideological struggle, has not yet become a profession. There are also no clearly conscious literary-theoretical programs, no literary manifestos (which in general are destined to play a lesser role in the history of Russian literature than in the history of Western literature). There are, however, various ideological and stylistic trends, which in their totality prepare the ground for Russian literary classicism.
Against what historical and cultural background did Russian literature develop at the beginning of the century? What was the general state of the culture of the country at that time?
This time went down in history under the name "the era of Peter's reforms." Peter I, as you know, did a lot to bring Russian culture closer to European culture. A.S. Pushkin said this well: “Russia entered Europe like a lowered ship, with the sound of an ax and the thunder of cannons.” And this huge ship was built thanks to the efforts of Peter I. Although in Russia, as D.S. Likhachev notes, there was no revival, renaissance, in the European sense of the word, nevertheless, the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. can rightly be considered for Russia equivalent to the European renaissance. From a monarchy of the old type, from a state bound by obsolete class prejudices, from a state in which the boyars were the ruling class, Russian society came to a powerful state of a different, European type, to an “enlightened” monarchy, where the nobility was the master, uniting the ancient tribal nobility - the boyars with a new nobility that arose relatively recently or even just emerged, with the nobility in the proper sense of the word.
The new state is the landlords who own the land, and the peasants, completely enslaved, living on this land. These are, finally, the merchants, now, during the rapid rise of the economy, agriculture and industry, who have become an important force in social development, and the clergy.
The West, which was largely oriented Russian state beginning of the century, too, of course, was heterogeneous. In Western Europe there was also a counter-reformation, but there was also enlightenment, there was also renaissance humanism. If Simeon of Polotsk in the 17th century had not yet clearly defined his position: whether he was closer to enlightenment, or to renaissance humanism (this, probably, was not clear to him), then Peter I in his transformations, in his reforms gravitated toward the educational, humanistic West clearly and definitely. This was inevitable historically.
In accordance with these new trends, a completely new worldview was taking shape in Russia. Interest in the sciences, which were previously considered as something bordering on sorcery, witchcraft, mysticism, manifested itself with great force; especially increased interest in the exact sciences. In connection with this, faith in the power of the human mind is gradually being affirmed. Reason becomes the measure of everything (this is how the ground is prepared for the formation of classicism). And this measure gradually, imperceptibly pushes many traditional religious ideas into the background. The authority of the church is replaced by the authority of the state, the state that has subjugated ecclesiastical authority. Service to the state becomes a criterion of the value of a person, his moral qualities. Public benefit is gradually becoming the highest ethical standard. And these new ideas, which originally arose in the West, together with new concepts, enter Russian everyday life: public benefit, public cause, citizen, patriot. There is a conviction that civil laws are not written on a whim from above, but are created according to the laws of reason, determined by "natural law" and not "divine providence."
Relations with Europe are established very quickly. The dam was interrupted, which for many centuries separated Russia from Western culture. Russian people, mostly young people, are urgently "sent" by the government to "foreign lands", a fairly large number of educational books appear, both translated and their own Russian. L. Magnitsky writes Arithmetic, remarkable for his time, with poetic inserts. The significance of this book (1703) went beyond the study of mathematics. The first Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti is published, the circulation of which sometimes rose to several thousand copies. A new calendar is introduced (1700). A new civil font was approved, which greatly facilitated the printing business and increased the possibility of spreading letters among the general population.
Attaching great importance to the publication of educational books, the development exact sciences, Peter I and his associates encouraged the development of applied arts. The first gymnasiums, which are still few in number, appear. So, in 1703, Ernst Gluck's gymnasium was founded in Moscow. Peter I widely, sometimes going to extremes, attracted foreigners for such purposes. Quite numerous "digital schools" are being created - schools in which the main place is occupied by the teaching of the exact sciences. The Zaikonospassky Moscow School is being transformed into a higher educational institution - the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. New, more qualified teachers are attracted here and education rises to a higher level.
Interest in ancient culture is growing. In this regard, in 1705, a curious book with the Latin title "Symbols and Emblems" was published. This book contained over eight hundred allegorical emblems and symbols most commonly used in Western European literature and mostly associated with Greek and Roman mythology. Such a book is a kind of ABC of mythology, an introduction to the world of conditional images, so characteristic of the culture of European baroque and classicism, turned out to be very useful for the Russian reader. There is also the book "Library, or about the gods" by Apollodorus. Its translation into Russian pursued the same goals and also contributed to the acquaintance of the Russian public with ancient culture.
There was a need to publish a collection of good manners and other books that could acquaint the Russian layman with Western European culture. Such books sometimes bore a satirical imprint. An example is the collection “An Honest Mirror of Youth”, which provided numerous advice on behavior in in public places, the life of a Russian person from svetlitsy and towers was taken out to meetings, to the public. “Don’t spit on the floor in society,” the “Mirror” taught a Russian young man dressed in a European caftan, “don’t blow your nose loudly, hold back your hiccups in front of the ladies,” etc.
All this was absolutely necessary to inspire young people who had never before attended crowded meetings in the presence of women and were not familiar with the European rules of civility. Such advice was not harmful to the female part of society either.
Russian people also had to learn a lot of new things about the rules of postal correspondence, especially love correspondence. “Butts, how different compliments are written” was the name of a collection of exemplary texts of postal correspondence, which explained in detail what formulas should be used to start a letter, how to speak in a message about your feeling for a lady, how to complete a letter.
Samples of business letters, messages from a husband to his wife, a wife to her husband, etc. were also cited. It should be emphasized the desire to assert human dignity, characteristic of "Butts". Here we find a decisive action against derogatory signatures, so common in pre-Petrine Rus', such as “your fiancé”, “your Ivashko”.
In 1724, the "Academy of Sciences and Curious Arts" was founded, and thus the development of science in Russia was finally centralized and taken under the tutelage of the state. Literature acquires a purely secular character. Of the 600 books printed during the reign of Peter I, only 48 were church books.
Of great importance were Peter's economic reforms, his administrative transformations, the introduction of ministries, the construction of a fleet, the development of industry - the whole life, all the ideas of a Russian person turned over, changed radically. new customs, new way life also demanded other words for their reflection in literature, a new literary language, new genres, new forms. A small, but very active, new intelligentsia quickly arose under Peter. Among them were raznochintsy, i.e. people from the third estate, as well as from the petty clergy. A very striking figure among these people was Ivan Tikhonovich Pososhkov, who died in 1726, a self-taught peasant, an extremely gifted scientist-economist, who perfectly studied the structure of the Russian economy of his time, its way of life, and already in his old age wrote the famous “Book of Poverty and Wealth”, wherein miraculously intertwined completely new, sometimes very bold ideas of economic and political transformation with patriarchal vestiges and traditions. For this book, the "seditious" (author) was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he died. Pososhkov's book was published only in the 19th century.
Other major figure The culture of the beginning of the century was Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev, a famous historian who became famous for his “History of Russia from the Most Ancient Times” in five books. A man of a completely new turn of mind, he was in principle opposed to serfdom, although he did not yet know the specific ways to eliminate serfdom.
Among the people who energetically supported Peter's reform activities, one should also include a number of prominent clergymen. This is the Bishop of Ryazan Gavriil Buzhinsky, a very knowledgeable and very progressive person, this is the Archbishop of Novgorod Feofan Prokopovich, encyclopedically educated, who also fully supported the reforms of Peter I, especially the reform of church administration carried out by the latter (the abolition of the patriarchate and the establishment of the Synod), and became "the leading member of the Synod ". Feofan Prokopovich developed a "spiritual regulation" that determined the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church under Peter I.
Another major figure who supported Peter I was Theophilus Rabbit. The result of these efforts major representatives Russian culture was the emergence of an advanced group of diverse intelligentsia, whose traditions were continued in the 60s by the publishers of satirical magazines and authors of stories designed for a third-class reader (M. Chulkov, V. Levshin). In the 1920s and 1930s, such intelligentsia rallied around Feofan Prokopovich into the well-known "Scientific Squad". The remarkable Russian satirist poet Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir also joined the “Scientific Squad”.
Great importance had the creation of the Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti, published from the end of 1702 to 1727. The newspaper was filled with chronicles and also published official documents. Fiction, articles, essays were not printed in the newspaper. The volume of the newspaper was unstable and fluctuated from two to twenty-two. Circulation also fluctuated sharply from thirty to four thousand. This newspaper published various reports about wars, popular uprisings, unrest, the activities of schismatics, what they say and write about Russia abroad. The editor was Polikarpov, the translators were Volkov and Sinyavich. Vedomosti existed for a quarter of a century, having “survived” Peter I for two years. After 1727, Vedomosti was replaced by another newspaper, Petersburg Vedomosti.
In the 17th century an attempt was made to give the Russian reader some idea of what they think abroad about the Russian state. It was a handwritten newspaper "Kuranty", which was written in one copy, by hand, and was distributed only among the tsar's close associates, so that the scope was incomparably narrower than the scope of Vedomosti.
At the end of 1702, a certain Johann Kunst, a German from Danzig, a man versed in theatrical business and possessing well-known organizational skills, on the initiative of Peter, recruited a troupe of "comedians" and prepared several plays. These plays were staged in the tradition of itinerant acting troupes. The plays were staged initially in German, then in Russian. But the Kunst theater did not last long: the very next year Kunst died and the performances ceased. These performances were full of bizarre spectacular episodes, they featured colorful characters of unusual fate, designed to amaze the viewer's imagination. The melodramatic scenes were full of horrors, murders and duels, unexpected turns actions. The rules of the performance were very peculiar. Female roles performed by male actors. The actors themselves introduced each other to the audience. Due to the extreme simplicity of the scenery, and sometimes their absence, the actors announced the name of the scene, the cities. The curtain was mostly not used. These theaters did not last long. By the end of the first decade of the XVIII century. their popularity has waned.
The Russian professional theater was to emerge and become firmly established only at the beginning of the second half of the century through the efforts of Feodor Volkov. Only this birth professional theater in Rus' and will lead in the 50-60s to the complete approval of a new type of art in the cultural life of Russia.
The lyrical poetry of this time, artistically weak, is extremely important in the historical and literary sense, because it opened up to the reader, opened up to Russian art the words of a completely new, previously unknown area of human life - the sphere of personal experiences. In ancient Russian, in medieval Russian literature, as well as in folklore creativity (with the exception of love “drawn-out” songs), the theme of lyrical, in the proper sense of the word, experiences was absent. Descriptions of the love experiences of the heroes did not occupy any important place. If there was a discussion about love, then it was not the feeling of love itself that was described, but the emphasis was placed on the economic significance of the marriage union. Love was usually replaced by predestination, fate, which tied the fate of people. In pre-Petrine literature, it was about carnal attraction, cynical attraction, devoid of any spirituality. The feeling of love was not depicted in all its meaning, i.e. as a feeling that transforms the entire spiritual world of a person, as a feeling that plays a huge role in a person's life. It was in this way, in a new way, that only poets of the 18th century spoke about love. In their "songs" and "arias" love does not just become driving force works, the basis of his conflict, but love is exalted here in the artistic sense of the word, poetized, almost deified. But book lyrics were still artistically helpless and attracted readers only by their innovative content.
The literary language fell into a chaotic state due to the fact that life has changed radically, a mass of new concepts has appeared, for the expression of which the old language of estate, caste medieval Rus' was completely unsuitable. Neither the Old Slavonic language style, nor the style of business documents, nor the folklore style were suitable here. It was necessary to look for a completely new alloy of verbal elements. Of course, this extremely difficult task could not be solved immediately. At the beginning of the century, such a task was only set.
Of great importance for the development of poetry in Russia was the craze for writing syllabic and pre-syllabic verses - verses, which was characteristic of the seminary life of that time. The writing of poetry was part of the curriculum of seminaries, and in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the main attention was paid to the purely external, graphic appearance of a poetic work. It was assumed that it was the visual symmetry of the text set out on paper that was a manifestation of the highest artistic, poetic skill. Hence the poems in the form of a cross, heart or some other form. Such poems were called curly verses. Acro- and meso-verses are also written, where either the initial letters of the lines read from top to bottom, or the middle letters of the verses highlighted in capital letters, formed some meaningful word, the name of the person to whom this poem was dedicated. Much attention was also paid to the writing of the so-called "crayfish verses", or werewolf verses, which could be read both in the usual order, from left to right, and vice versa, and the meaning of the verse did not change from this.
Literary creativity had great internal resistance and was difficult to renovate. Very strong stylistic traditions in ancient Russian literature for a long time lived in the literature of the XVIII century. In the first decades, the genres characteristic of the 16th-17th centuries retained their significance. In the 17th century, the genre of the story was most widespread in Russian literature. It remains popular in the first decades of the new century. In the old, familiar genre, the old, both in content and in stylistic form, begins to come into conflict with the new, while continuing to coexist with this new in general. This phenomenon can be traced on the example of the most common story of the time of Peter the Great - "History about the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky, about the beautiful princess Heraclius of the Florensky land." buzzword"history" or "history" is very often introduced in the title of such works. This, of course, is a trend of the times, and not only a lexical one: with this word, the anonymous authors of the stories wanted to emphasize the authenticity, truthfulness, and typicality of the events depicted in the works. In this work, a conflict develops, familiar already to the stories of the 17th century. Here we also have a clash of old and new ideas about the purpose of life, about moral values, about the moral foundations of society, about the clash of the ideology of fathers and children. But if in stories XVII centuries, such a clash usually acquired a very sharp character and was depicted as an antagonistic conflict, then there is no direct clash, plot conflict between father and son, the hero of the work. On the contrary, the hero of the story - Vasily always remembers his father, sends him money from abroad, there is no enmity between father and son. Moreover, the father does not prevent his son from living his own mind and even sympathizes with such filial behavior. But the ideological content of the story as a whole reflects the impossibility of living in the old way, represents the denial of the whole old life, its entire way of life, its morality. And the hero, who lives in a new way, actively building his own destiny, wins, reaches the highest rung of the social ladder. This was not the story of the XVII century. This is a fundamentally new solution to the conflict - quite in the spirit of the stormy time of Peter the Great. Vasily enjoys great sympathy of the author. In his image, first of all, purposefulness, initiative, an active attitude to life, the ability to “live by one’s own mind” (a skill that previously killed the hero of the story “On Woe-Misfortune”) are emphasized. Vasily treats "noble persons" with respect. But at the same time it has an independent character and all the time retains human dignity. The hero at the end of the story reaches the highest position in society not due to the merits of his father, not due to the nobility of his family, but solely due to his own outstanding qualities. The end of the story also differs from the endings of the stories of the 17th century - hopeless - not leaving for the monastery, not the death of the hero, but his triumph as a winner in the life struggle, and a winner in moral terms. An important role is played by a love conflict, it is she who drives the action throughout the predominant part of the plot. At the same time, love is idealized as opposed to its condemnation as a demonic or antisocial principle in the stories of the 17th century.
In compositional terms, "History of Vasily Koriotsky" is perhaps the most perfect of all the stories of Peter the Great's time. Other works of this genre are distinguished by the intricacy of the conflict and the lack of coherence of the composition. To a lesser extent, this applies to the parody "The Story of the Russian Merchant John", the hero of which is not a nobleman, but a merchant. He travels to Paris to "taste the pleasures of social life." Much attention in the story is given to the description of love flirting, the ups and downs of John's courtship of Eleanor. Love notes are introduced into the text for the first time. But everything is painted in ironic tones. The appearance of the work, clearly parodic, is evidence that the genre of "history" has begun to become obsolete to some extent.
The most significant in terms of volume, and at the same time the least coherent compositionally, of all the stories of the time of Peter the Great, is undoubtedly "The Tale of Alexander - the Russian nobleman." Here you can feel the strong influence of popular print novels, as well as Russian folklore, in particular adventurous Russian fairy tales.
Alexander, the hero of this work, like Basil and John, goes to Europe, which appears before the reader as a land of pleasure and gallantry, and in the second part of the work - as a world of adventure and knightly tournaments. In the city of Lille, Alexander falls in love with the beautiful Eleonora, their romance continues for a long time, but the characters lose each other more than once, while the disguise of the characters, which the author resorts to, does not allow the characters to recognize each other. Alexander is a rather frivolous gentleman and Eleanor, having learned about his betrayal, dies of grief. Alexander falls in love with Hedwig-Dorotea, then with Tirra, who at the end of the story is stabbed to death over the body of the deceased Alexander with grief.
The comic parallel to the main characters of the story, Alexander and Eleanor, is Vladimir with his many lovers.
The Story of the French Son enjoyed some popularity. All these stories depicted a Russian person as a European, gave him qualities that were alien to the old Russian story: independence, resourcefulness, gallantry - what they imperiously demanded new way of life, a new reality.
Somewhat apart from the "stories" is "An Excerpt from a Novel in Verse", which is an autobiographical story of a young woman about the collapse of her hopes of marrying a loved one. For the first time in Russian literature, on behalf of a woman, free love is openly, fearlessly spoken of and parental domostroy power, which opposes this feeling and ultimately destroys it, is openly condemned.
All these works were closer to folklore than to book literary tradition. They were not printed, but, having been liked by readers, they were distributed in lists and varied, which brought them closer to folklore and contributed to the acquisition of a traditional touch by their images and saturation of works with common places.
Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below
Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.
Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Autonomous non-profit educational organization
higher education
"Sevastopol Maritime Academy"
Departments of Philology
Essay
in the discipline "History of Russian literature"
on the topic of: "Literature of the Petrine era»
Executor:
Dremzhi Aider Abdullaevich
Student of group PR-114, 1st year
Scientific director
Racheeva Ludmila Petrovna
Senior Lecturer
Department of Philology
Sevastopol 2014
Introduction
1. Literature of the Petrine era
1.1 Publicism
1.3 Tales of the Petrine era
1.4 Poetry
2. Literature of 30-50s
2.1 Classicism as a literary movement
2.2 The originality of Russian classicism
2.3 Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir
2.3.1 Satires of Cantemir Antiochus
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
The beginning of the 18th century, according to many modern researchers, does not quite coincide with the beginning of a new era in the development of Russian literature. The Petrine era, which marks the beginning of the traditional courses in the history of Russian literature of the 18th century, was a turning point in the history of Russian statehood and culture, but still it was hardly a turning point in literature. Rather, at that time, the transition from ancient Russian, medieval literature to modern literature, which had become apparent in the second half of the previous century, continued. Profound qualitative changes in all areas of the secularizing culture also left their mark on literature, in which, from the second half of the 17th century, interest in the depiction of the human person increased, the drama of understanding life deepened, new types and types of literary works appeared (panegyric and love lyrics, school and court drama). It was in the second half of the 17th century that the active process of mastering the diverse Western European culture, which continued in the Petrine era, began. artistic experience, its original and creative processing.
The assimilation of the new did not mean a decisive break with domestic literary traditions, but in many ways made it possible to further develop a number of features of Russian literature. national culture. Russian XVIII The century has often been called the period of "accelerated" development of literature, because in less than a hundred years Russian literature has traveled a path that took much longer for most Western literatures. Following the advent of the Baroque, classicism was established in Russia, and soon sentimentalism and literary movements were born and flourished, as a result of which the boundaries between them turned out to be very relative.
At the same time, Russian literature of the 18th century was created in the conditions of constantly expanding, lively contacts between Russia and the West. Educated Russian people at this time, as a rule, knew French well, many of them read two or three modern European languages and at least one ancient one. French, English, German philosophy, literature, journalism were well known to them in the original, but throughout the 18th century the number and quality of translations from ancient and from the main European languages increased and improved. Russian literature and culture XVIII centuries, not only recognized itself as an organic part of the European cultural movement of its time, but also strove for creative competition with the literatures of other peoples of Europe, and above all - with the most famous and authoritative in those years, the French literature XVII-XVIII centuries
An important aspect of the cultural reality of the XVIII century. researchers consider a gradual rethinking of the goals and objectives of literary creativity. Literature, of course, has not yet become a proper profession, until the 1760s it had neither a more or less distinct social, nor even a political function, but the struggle for its social status turns out, according to V.M. Zhivov, an inevitable companion of the literary activity of a number of leading writers of the "eighteenth century".
1. Literature of the Petrine era
One of the main themes of the Petrine era is, of course, the problem of the human personality. A person begins to be perceived as an active person, valuable both in itself and even more for "services to the fatherland." It is not wealth and not the nobility of the family that are valued, but public benefit, intelligence and courage: it is they who, in the new conditions, can elevate a person to one of the highest rungs of the social ladder. In 1722, the “Table of Ranks of all military, civil and court ranks” appeared, opening up the opportunity for people of non-noble rank to receive it for services to the state.
This new person should act not blindly on orders, but imbued with the consciousness of the necessity and benefit of certain government measures, therefore, it is necessary to explain the state policy to him. To this end, from the end of 1702, the first printed newspaper in Russia, Vedomosti, began to be published, which reported "on military and other matters worthy of knowledge and memory that happened in the Muscovite state and in other surrounding countries."
Peter launched a broad publishing activity, textbooks are printed (for example, "Arithmetic, that is, the science of numerals" by L. Magnitsky, 1703), historical books, political treatises and scientific works. Along with this, there are also unusual books, such as The Honest Mirror of Youth (1717), which could well be called a guide to etiquette, as it told how to behave for youths and young men. The first part of the "Mirror" includes teaching aids for literacy and the alphabet, as well as a set of Orthodox instructions, and the second contains clearly formulated rules of everyday behavior for young nobles written in a bright figurative style. One can read in it, for example, the following recommendation: “a young lad” should wash his hands before eating, and then he was asked: “don’t grab the first one in the dish, don’t eat like a pig ... don’t sip when you eat.”
Discussing the development of the Baroque style in the Petrine era, A.M. Panchenko draws attention to the existing opposition: “The word was the banner of the Moscow period of the Russian baroque, the thing became the banner of the St. Petersburg baroque. From the verbal “museum of rarities” of Simeon Polotsky to the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera, a real museum of monsters and curious things - such is the rapid evolution of Russian culture. The researcher drew attention to the fact that the rarities of poetry collections of Simeon Polotsky and the curiosities of Peter's Kunstkamera are phenomena of the same plane, the same baroque sensationalism. But Simeon of Polotsk is more often looking for sensations in the past, he is a historian par excellence, while Peter is only interested in the present; in the sensations of Simeon of Polotsk there was an element of a miracle, for Peter, sensationalism is a deviation from the norm, from the bored and bored, from the template.
The Petrine era is rightfully considered a turning point in cultural development Russia. On one side of this historical period lies the ancient literature, on the other, the new.
However, this new literature did not grow out of nowhere. Its roots are in the 17th century, in democratic prose, in syllabic poetry, in that baroque culture that has taken root in Moscow since the time of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Under Peter, this culture was modified, rebuilt, but it was not discarded and abolished. On the contrary, it was during the time of Peter the Great that it reached its highest peak. The late baroque style became the official style of Russian culture.
Literature was dominated by rhetoric. Solemn sermon, school drama and panegyric poetry - these are the genera that developed in literature. The sermon became not only the main genre, but also the leading aesthetic principle. Baroque literature of the early 18th century. pursued educational goals, based on the principle: the more enlightened a person is, the more accessible moral perfection is to him.
At the beginning of the 18th century Baroque successes were great and undeniable. All the writers of Russia were under his influence. But gradually the leadership of culture began to pass to Peter. The baroque leaders began to lose his support. Peter moved on to the negation of the baroque and Ukrainian-Polish and in its Russian version. The reason for the denial could not be all sorts of private clashes between the tsar and the baroque elite. Rejection of the Baroque systems cannot be considered a whim of an autocratic monarch. There was a deep meaning in the denial: Peter was disposed to tolerate preachers, but the very type of baroque writer seemed to him an obstacle in the transformation of Russia.
According to Baroque philosophy, the poet must be accountable only to God. Peter, on the contrary, believed that poets do not constitute the elite of the nation and are no different from any subject. The entire population of Russia is subordinate to the sovereign. And Peter issued a decree, which said that writing should cease to be the privilege of learned monasticism.
Peter parted ways with Baroque writers for other reasons as well. The culture they created was purely humanitarian in nature, and this also did not suit Peter, who above all valued the principle of practical utility. Peter's reforms were permeated with the idea of usefulness, and there was no benefit - direct, immediate, tangible - from monk writers. That is why Peter decided to reject this art.
Peter brought forward a different type of writer. The intellectual, who composed out of inner conviction, was replaced by an employee who wrote by order or by direct order. Peter put forward another type of culture. If for Baroque writers poetry was the queen of the arts, now it has become an adornment of natural science and practical publications. If before the whole world, all the elements of the universe, were perceived as word, now the word has become thing.
Under Peter, Russia produced many new "things" that supplanted the production of "words": the fleet, libraries, theater, the Academy of Sciences, parks and park sculpture; new clothes, manners, style of communication, even a new capital. The production of "things" has supplanted the production of "words", which is why the time of Peter the Great is called the "non-literary" era in the history of Russian culture. Did this mean the decline of literature? In a sense, yes, it did. The deterioration of style was natural. That is, if under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich writing was the privilege of people with the right humanitarian education, then under Peter a tribe of dilettantes arose and multiplied. Amateurism is also a symptom of decadence.
But there were fruitful moments in all this. The results of the transformations were not slow to affect the field of culture. What new, significant things did the Petrine era bring to Russian culture?
1.1 Publicism
Of particular importance in the Petrine era was the development of the genres of socio-political journalism, which promoted the new advanced ideals put forward by the era of transformation. The most important feature of the government journalism of the Petrine era is its educational character.
« Vedomosti". Since 1702, the first Russian printed newspaper began to appear in Russia - "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti", through which the government of Peter I explained its policy and promoted the need and importance of reforms. Peter gave Vedomosti a social and educational status and consciously sought to make the newspaper accessible a wide range readers. Therefore, special importance was given to the language of Vedomosti: businesslike, precise, almost without Church Slavonicisms and with a small amount of foreign vocabulary. The language of the newspaper became the model that Peter recommended for the translation of foreign books and for Russian historical and journalistic writings of the early 18th century. The printed Vedomosti was published in a large circulation (up to 4,000 copies) and introduced Russian readers to culture.
In 1708, Russia was introduced civil alphabet. This contributed to the publication a large number political and journalistic works, educational books, translated and original historical writings.
1.2 Theater
The Petrine era, which caused a fruitful revival in all areas of cultural life, was marked by such an important event in Russian culture as the creation of the first public theater in Russia, arranged according to the Western European model. The theater, according to Peter, was supposed to play the role of a kind of platform for the advanced ideas of the era.
In 1699 in Moscow, was arranged " comedy theater". Plays were staged here for the close associates of the king. Peter well understood the need for a public theater. And in 1702, the first public theater was built on Red Square in Moscow. The invited troupe was led by the German John Christian Kunst. The first Russian public theater did not last long - from 1702 to 1706. It did not live up to the hopes of the government.
In 1707 was organized new theater in the village of Preobrazhensky near Moscow. It was formed under the guidance and on the initiative of Natalya Alekseevna, the sister of Peter I. Following the example of the princess, Tsarina Praskovya Feodorovna, the widow of Tsar Ivan, set up a theater in the village of Izmailovo near Moscow. This Izmailovsky theater existed until the end of Peter's reign.
1.3 Tales of the Petrine era
The most typical among the original stories of the Petrine era are the following: “The story of the Russian sailor Vasily Kariotsky”, “The story of the brave Russian cavalier Alexander”, “The story of some noble son”, “The story of the Russian merchant John”.
These works are a bright offspring of the Petrine era. Their hero is typical - an ignorant young man, most often an impoverished petty nobleman. His fate is typical: he reaches high position in society thanks not to their origin, but to personal merits, "reason", "sciences". The form of these works is also typical, where the artistic traditions of Russian and translated literature were combined in a peculiar way.
All "Stories" are significantly different from narrative writings 2nd half of the 17th century
"Stories" are entirely secular works, their plots are fictional and develop along the line of revealing the character of the protagonist, whose fate is the result of his actions, and not the actions of inevitable fate, as was the case in the stories about Savva Grudtsyn and Molodets. New in Russian stories of the early 18th century. is the development of a love theme, which forms the plot and serves to reveal the characters of the characters. The reflection of the enlightening ideas of the time of Peter the Great is also new, which was reflected in such qualities of the heroes as his natural mind and success in the sciences. In general, the stories clearly reflected the Petrine era with all its characteristic features of social and everyday life: trips “overseas to science”, assemblies, new manner relationship between a man and a woman. These works outline the features of the future Russian novel.
1.4 Poetry
Book poetry continued to develop in the Petrine era, continuing to remain predominantly baroque. It contains many works on the motif of "vanity", "Memento mori", develop formal tricks that are already very characteristic of book poetry of the previous century: poems in the form of a cross or heart, palindromes, etc. But the most important place in the poetry of that time was occupied by panegyric poems, solemn "kants" and victorious "vivates" on the occasion of Russia's military successes or other important state events. This phenomenon is extremely important for the history of Russian literature of the period under review as a clear indicator of the continuity of literary traditions. The "Kants" and "Vivats" have a predecessor - a collection of Baroque poems "in case" by Simeon Polotsky "Rhymologion". They also have a clearly distinguished "descendant" - a classic ode. As an example, we can cite the well-known cant of Dimitry of Rostov on the capture of Narva, which spoke of the struggle between the eagle - the symbol of Russia - and the lion - the symbol of Sweden. Everything is built on a skillful weave mythological images: the lion - the emblem of Sweden - acquires the name "Nemean" and is thus associated with one of the labors of Hercules; Peter is a stone, and this translation often appeared in modern church sermons, vivat is a welcoming Latin cry, which it was Peter who officially introduced into Russian life.
In the poetry of the time of Peter the Great, there are also Horatian-Epicurean themes and motifs that are not characteristic of the previous literary tradition. Such, for example, is the “Drinking Song”, which was a half-retelling-half-translation of the famous student anthem “Gaudeamus igitur”. Its second part contains a number of specific details of the feast of epicurean nobles of the time of Peter the Great, who are immediately named by their names (princes Masalsky, Ivan and Boris Golitsyn, etc.).
The most innovative phenomenon in the poetry of Peter's time must still be considered love lyrics, completely devoid of any previous tradition. And if in the stories the love theme was one of the components that formed, along with others, much more traditional, into a kind of unity literary text, then in love lyrics it was the only organizing element of the text. Despite the fact that among the love poems of that time there were many curiosities (partly because love verses were also composed by foreigners who had not yet mastered the Russian language to a sufficient degree), there were also finds that did not subsequently go unnoticed: comparisons of the beloved with the “goddess”, "star", with flowers ("the most fragrant color"), precious stones(“expensive sapphire”, “diamond”), etc., a figurative description of the power of feeling that gripped the lyrical hero (“your eye has a magnet in itself”).
Along with the syllabic poetry based on the tradition of the second half of the previous century, there were poems oriented towards folk poetics (from where, apparently, the narration on behalf of a woman is also borrowed).
Classicism was the main direction of the 19th and early 19th centuries, which is characterized by high themes, strict adherence to certain creative norms and rules, reflections of life in ideal images.
Representatives of classicism in Russia: Derzhavin, Lomonosov, Sumarokov, Fonvizin.
The Petrine era, with its secular, cheerful beginning, with the assertion of the human right to earthly happiness, contributed to the flourishing of poetry.
The verses of the Petrine era had a purely bookish character. The official poetry of this time is divided into two types: spiritual and secular, and the latter is of particular interest. Along with philosophical, spiritual and panegyric themes at the beginning of the 18th century. there were poems of love content.
Changes in public life and family life, introduction assemblies, where men and women held festive meetings together, the liberation of women from domestic slavery - all this established new relationships.
Numerous samples of love poems of the early 18th century found in various handwritten albums make it possible to form an idea of their character. They are distinguished by naive mannerisms, sensitivity and emotionally uplifted phraseology, which indicates the active linguistic influence of translated literature.
2. Literature 30-50 years
On January 28, 1725, Peter I died. He did not leave a will of succession to the throne. In Russia, a period of palace coups began.
After the death of Peter I, power is seized by his wife Catherine I, who died two years after the death of her great husband. As a result of court intrigues, Peter II, a 12-year-old boy, was introduced to the throne. But he soon died of an incurable disease - smallpox.
In 1730, the niece of Peter I, Anna Ioannovna, was elevated to the throne - an uneducated, cruel, wayward woman. Favoritism, tyranny, the dominance of foreigners, the decline of morality reigned at the imperial court. This period of Russian history, called Bironovshchina, lasted 10 years.
And it is not known how long this state of intrigue around the Russian throne would have continued if the guard, 15 years after the death of Peter I, as a result of a palace coup, had not brought to power the legitimate heir to the throne - Peter's thirty-year-old daughter Elizabeth.
What was the state of Russian culture in the post-Petrine era?
“New literature is the fruit of a newly formed society,” wrote A.S. Pushkin. The new literature really arose at the end of the first third of the 18th century, as a result of a sharp turning point in Russian life.
Closing yourself Western Europe from the invasion of nomads, having taken on the entire burden of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, Russia in its historical development lagged behind the European states for several centuries. A necessary condition for the development of the Russian people into a great nation was the overcoming of this backwardness.
The new Russian writers naturally turned to the most influential and authoritative literature of French classicism on a pan-European scale.
2.1 Classicism, as a literary movement
Classicism (from lat. classicus- exemplary), like any new artistic method, arose in connection with the emergence of new socio-historical conditions in reality itself.
Classicism reached its greatest completeness in the West in France in the second half of the 17th century. The form of political power that best meets the specific historical requirements of that era becomes an absolute monarchy, acting as a civilizing center, as a unifying beginning of society. Absolutism called for the "thinking mind" to be "the measure of everything that exists" (F. Engels). Therefore, it is quite natural that in the 17th century. - and first of all in France - the leading philosophical trend, which had a huge impact on many areas of ideological life, is becoming rationalism founded by René Descartes. And it is also natural that it was rationalism that was the most important link in the philosophical basis of the aesthetics of classicism.
The aesthetic ideal of the classicists corresponded to the requirements put forward by absolutism. The focus of the writers was a man who mastered his passions, subordinated the personal to the public, a man for whom, above all, was the public debt, high moral principles, a combination of personal interests with the requirements of reason and moral duty.
Note that the aesthetics of classicism is based on the ideas of the Renaissance, which, in turn, revived the ideas of antiquity. Hence, as the main task of art, classicist writers put forward the requirement to imitate nature, formulated by Aristotle, focused on ancient texts, considering them exemplary. This played a positive role. But at the same time, the immutability, the exemplary ideals of beauty created by ancient art, were also recognized, and this largely fettered the possibilities of classic writers, limited the principles of artistic selection, and affected the ways of embodying characters, which was accompanied by the development of strict rules and regulations.
Let us designate the basic principles of the aesthetics of classicism:
1. The recognition of reason as the highest criterion of the true, and, therefore, of the beautiful.
2. Orientation to the works of antiquity, which were considered exemplary.
3. The abstractness of the figurative system with the emphasis in the human character on the foreground of any one of its features. Hence - one-line images-schemes, the division of characters strictly into positive, virtuous and negative, carriers of vice. Images lined up schematically, were devoid of individuality.
4. Strict regulation of genres with an exact indication of the characters and their corresponding language. Genres are divided into:
High: ode, heroic poem, tragedy;
Low: satire, fable, comedy;
Medium (mediocre): all poetic genres - pastoral (elegy, idyll, eclogue), romance, song, ballad, sonnet, etc.
5. Requirement of plausibility. It was recommended to take into account the historical flavor of the era and the features of national identity. This point in dramaturgy also includes the rule of “three unities” - action, place and time: an action that develops along one storyline takes place in the same place for 24 hours (days).
6. The requirement of unity of content and form with the leading role of content.
2.2 Cimagination of Russian classicism
The formation of classicism in Russian literature took place much later than in European literatures, but under similar conditions for the formation of an absolute monarchy. This commonality largely determined both the content and the form of Russian literature of the period of classicism. It is characterized by both normativity, and genre regulation, and the conventionality of the artistic image. But, at the same time, Russian classicism was distinguished by features of a unique national identity, among the most important of which we note the following:
Firstly: The formation of Russian classicism falls on the 18th century and is associated with the development of a new philosophy and a new science. The emergence of Russian classicism fully corresponded to the then Russian historical conditions - the era of absolutism. Of course, the figures of classicism used the available literary experience West, but what was mastered developed in accordance with national conditions and local practice.
Secondly: The formation of French classicism coincided with the period of strengthening the absolute monarchy, which supported and at the same time subjugated the leading principles of classic literature. Russian classicism began to take shape during the period of reaction that set in after the death of Peter I, when the progressive gains of the Petrine decades were jeopardized.
Therefore, the accusatory orientation and close connection with modernity have become characteristic features of Russian classicism.
Third: The fact that the development of Russian classicism took place in the 18th century expanded its philosophical base in comparison with the philosophical foundations of French classicism, connected it to a greater extent with the ideology of enlightenment. petrovsky cantemir poetry journalism
This connection of Russian classicism with enlightenment led to the discussion of new topics: the glorification of the enlightened monarch, the development of science and education, the assertion of the natural (natural, moral) rights of people.
Fourth: If absolutism in France led to a temporary compromise between the nobility and the top of the bourgeoisie, then in Russia we cannot speak of such a compromise, since the Russian bourgeoisie was still very weak and left full power to the nobles. The main conflict of the era was revealed in the contradiction between the enlightened and conservative nobility. Therefore, the progressive people of that time opposed the cruel exploitation of the peasantry, calling for a humane attitude towards serfs. In Russian literature of the 2nd third of the 18th century. the peasant theme arose, which became one of the features of the themes of the leading classicist writers.
Fifth, if the French classicist playwrights were guided by the works of antiquity, then the Russians used plots from ancient sources, primarily chronicles, and created works based on the material of national history.
2.3 Antioch Dmitryevich Kantemir
In the 16th century, the influential Tatar family of Kantemirov (according to family tradition, descended from Tamerlane, hence the surname Khan-Timur) settled in Moldova. Konstantin Kantemir, the grandfather of our poet, was appointed Moldavian ruler by the sultan for his services in the Polish-Turkish war, but his son, Dmitry, out of the usual precaution, took him hostage to Constantinople. There Dmitry was educated, studied Turkish, Persian and Greek. He became one of the most educated nobles in Turkey.
When in 1710 Peter began the Turkish campaign, Dmitry Cantemir himself was appointed Moldavian ruler. A European-educated man and admirer of the Russian tsar-reformer Peter I, Cantemir conceived the liberation of Moldova from the Turkish yoke and its annexation to Russia. In 1711 he signed a secret treaty with Peter. The plot was uncovered, but Cantemir and his family managed to escape to Peter. Turkish Sultan demanded the extradition of Cantemir, but Peter categorically refused to let go of the former Moldavian ruler who trusted him. So the Cantemir family found shelter in Russia. His younger son Antiochus was then about three years old.
The family was dominated by Italian and Modern Greek. Dmitry's wife - Cassandra Kantakuzen - came from a Greek aristocratic family. But Dmitry quickly mastered the Russian language and raised the children in the spirit of devotion to the new fatherland, reverence for Peter and gratitude to him for the firmness with which the tsar saved the family from inevitable death in the days critical for the fate of Kantemirov.
Antiochus studied first at home. His teacher was a talented philologist and translator Ivan Ilyinsky. They laid the foundations liberal education Cantemir.
The education of Antioch Kantemir at the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy is not confirmed. There is only one documentary evidence: in 1718, at the age of 10, he publicly spoke there with a memorized speech. But this fact is not evidence of the systematic training of Antiochus at the academy, since the young nobles were required to periodically demonstrate their knowledge in public.
In 1719, at the invitation of the Tsar, Dmitry Kantemir moved to St. Petersburg, and, naturally, the whole family moved after him. Peter sought to draw Cantemir the father into state activity, gave him various assignments, and in 1721 appointed him a member of the Senate. The following year, Dmitry accompanied the tsar in the famous Persian campaign, by the way, together with his son. During this campaign, Dmitry died. Shortly after this sad event, the family returned to Moscow again, and the young Kantemir had to think about an independent life, the main meaning of which he considered serving the Fatherland, and for this he decided to get the highest education. In a petition written on May 25, 1724 in the name of Peter 1, 16-year-old Antioch Cantemir listed the sciences to which he “ had a great desire": ancient and new history, geography, jurisprudence, disciplines related to the "political statute", mathematical sciences and painting. To study them, he asked to be released abroad. In this youthful statement of Antiochus, the firmness of his character and his irresistible desire for education were fully reflected.
But in connection with the implementation of Peter's measures to organize the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Kantemir had the opportunity to improve his education without going abroad. Simultaneously with his studies, he served in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and earned an officer's rank.
By this time (1825-28) the beginning of the literary activity of A. Kantemir also belongs. His first printing experience - "Symphony on the Psalter". The collection is a transcription of verses from the psalms of David, arranged in alphabetical and thematic order. Since 1729, the period of creative maturity of the writer begins, when he quite consciously focuses his work exclusively on satire .
2.3.1 WITHatyrs of Antioch Cantemir
In total Cantemir wrote 9 satires. They are divided into 2 groups: 5 satires written in 1729-31, before leaving abroad, and 4 satires of the foreign cycle (1738-39).
The compositional construction of all satires of Cantemir is uniform. First comes the introduction, which most often represents an appeal, for example: “To your mind”, “To Feofan”, “To the sun”, “To your muse”. Further, without any logical connection, he proceeds to create satirical portraits. Hence the typical for Cantemir double titles of satires: the first determines the appeal, the second refers to the sign on which the satirical portraits are selected.
Program are 1 and 2 satires.
“To your mind. On those who blaspheme the teaching."
Cantemir speaks to his mind, lest the mind impel the hands to labor, for in this age literary work fame is very difficult to achieve. Further, Cantemir displays a whole gallery of ignoramuses from different classes.
Criton - clergy representative. He grumbles and sighs because the sciences lead to heresy and godlessness:
The schisms and heresies of science are children,
More lies, who were given more understanding.
Whoever melts over books comes to godlessness,
Crito with a rosary in his hands grumbles and sighs
And asks, holy soul, with bitter tears
See how the seed of sciences is harmful between us...
Sylvan- landowner; he who complains that the sciences prevent the people who feed him from doing manual labor:
Silvanus finds another fault for the sciences:
“Learning,” he says, “leads hunger to us”;
We lived before this, not knowing Latin,
Much more abundant than we live now,
Much in ignorance reaped more bread,
Having adopted a foreign language, they lost their bread ... ".
Luke- a drunkard and a reveler who takes up arms against the sciences, as they destroy a cheerful company:
Ruddy, burping three times, Luka sings along:
“Science destroys the commonwealth of people;
People, we have become a creature of God to the community,
Not in our favor, one sense of the gift was accepted ...
Wine is a divine gift, there is a lot of agility in it:
Makes people friends, gives a reason to talk,
Cheers, takes away all heavy thoughts,
Poverty knows how to relieve, encourages the weak ... "
In the gallery of the ignorant and the dandy Medor. He complains that the paper he needs for curlers to make a curly haircut is spent on books:
Medor grieve that too much paper comes
To the letter, to the printing of books, but it comes to him,
That there is nothing to wrap curled curls in;
He will not change a pound of powder for Seneca.
Virgil is not worth two money in front of Yegor,
Rex, not Cicero, deserves praise.
In the final part, the satirist moves from exposing the bearers of individual vices to exposing the depravity of the whole society. The outward appearance of a person or his activities may often seem significant, but behind them lies an inner emptiness and depravity. External brilliance often hides inner emptiness, spiritual poverty and inertia:
If you want to be a bishop, put your cassock on,
On top of that body with pride striped riza
Let him cover: hang a chain around your neck from gold,
Cover your head with a hood, your belly with a beard,
The stick was magnificently led to carry in front of him ...
The first satire of Cantemir was popular among advanced people of that time and quickly spread in the lists, at first anonymously. The satire was very topical, and the conditionally mythological names of the characters could not but be recognizable.
The second satire Filaret and Eugene "is addressed" to the envy and pride of the malevolent nobles. This satire, among others, has a peculiar composition: it is written in the form of a dialogue between the spokesman for the author's position Filaret (philanthropist) and the nobleman Eugene (noble).
Eugene puts on airs with the nobility of his kind, considers himself superior to those around him because of his noble origin. His personal merit is negligible. Filaret notes that there is a big difference between the concepts of being a descendant of noble ancestors or being noble yourself. True nobility is in the affairs of man. What about Eugene? Did he endure military labors? Was he an impartial judge? Did he lighten the heavy taxes of the people? No. And Filaret proves to Eugene that there is no true nobility in him.
Kantemir for the first time in Russian literature criticizes the nobleman Yevgeny as a ruthless landowner, a feudal exploiter. This satire opens the anti-serfdom theme in Russian literature. Filaret characterizes Eugene as he really was. Eugene - "a stone soul", laughs at poverty, for a small fault - unheated wine, severely beats a footman. He is greedy, he is accustomed to luxury, although his luxurious life is based on the cruel exploitation of the peasants. It means nothing to him to put on a costume that costs an entire village.
Thus, Cantemir put forward the thesis of "natural equality of people." Note that he did not talk about social equality; his criticism of social injustice was limited to a moral and ethical plan, and not a social one. But even this was very important at the beginning of the 18th century, when serfs were not considered people at all. Cantemir said that all estates came from Adam, and Adam did not give birth to nobles.
In his satires, Cantemir set the task not so much to show reality as his angry and bitter thoughts about people. Cantemir created a number of vivid characters-images and paintings-sketches. His satires are written in a language with almost no admixture of Church Slavonic elements.
During his lifetime, the works of Cantemir were not published, satires were distributed only in manuscripts. They were published earlier in the West than in Russia. In 1749, the satires were published in London, the circulation sold out instantly, and a reprint was published a year later. In 1751, satires were published in Berlin in German, and only in 1762 were they printed in Russia.
Thus, Cantemir became the founder of classicism in Russian literature and the founder of the most vital satirical direction in it. He developed the genre of satire in literature, was the first to touch on the topic of the natural equality of people, and was the first to demand from the landowners humane treatment of the peasants.
About the satirical work of Antioch Kantemir, the famous Russian philologist and critic of the 19th century V.G. Belinsky said: Cantemir, with his satyrs, erected for himself a small, modest, but nevertheless immortal monument in Russian literature.».
Conclusion
At the beginning of the 18th century, during the Petrine era, Russia began to develop rapidly due to transformations in all areas of state and cultural life. These transformations led to the centralization of autocratic statehood and themselves contributed to it. At this time, the independence of Russia was strengthened, its military power increased, the cultural rapprochement of the power with the countries of Europe took place, and its influence in the European arena increased. Widely using the achievements of domestic and world science, culture, technology, industry, education, Peter I opened new paths for Russian literature with his reforms. Despite the fact that the movement of Russia after the death of Peter the Great slowed down, Russian society achieved tremendous results in the field of culture and education in the 18th century. Russian monarchs, especially Peter I and Catherine II, clearly understood that to move the country forward, to destroy the inert patriarchal orders, old superstitions that interfered with the growth of material values and new social relations, to establish new secular state and moral standards and concepts are possible only with the help of education, enlightenment, culture, and the press. In this regard, the literature has received exceptional attention. Teaching is light.
Under these conditions, various strata of Russian society received the opportunity for broad intellectual and artistic activity: Moscow University was opened, comprehensive schools and vocational schools, a new calendar was introduced, the first Russian newspaper was founded, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Arts, the Free Economic Society, and the first permanent Russian theater were established. The society got the opportunity to express their opinions, to criticize the affairs of the government, nobles and dignitaries. Russian literature of the 18th century inherited from ancient Russian literature a lofty idea of the art of the word and the mission of the writer, of the powerful educational impact of the book on society, on the minds and feelings of fellow citizens. She gave these historical features new forms, using the possibilities of classicism and the Enlightenment.
The main idea of the development of literature in the era of classicism was the pathos of state building and transformation. Therefore, high civic-patriotic poetry and accusatory satirical criticism of the vices of society and the state, circumstances and people that hindered progress came to the fore in literature. The central genre of high civic poetry was the ode. The critical direction was represented by the genres of high satire close to ode, fable and everyday comedy of manners. These main directions in the development of literature were determined at the beginning of the century. In the first third of the century, classicism was formed, the birth of which was facilitated by one of the highest hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, the writer Feofan Prokopovich. The founders of classicism were A. D. Kantemir, V. K. Trediakovsky and M. V. Lomonosov. In addition to them, the largest writer, whose work began in the first half of the 18th century, was A.P. Sumarokov. In the second half of the 18th century, approximately from the 1760s, a new period began in literature. At this time, new genres appeared: a prose novel, a story, a comic opera and a “tearful drama”.
Because the social contradictions deepened, then satire became more widespread. To mitigate its impact on society, Catherine II herself became the secret publisher of the satirical magazine Vsyakaya Vsyachina. The empress wanted to reduce the role of public satire and increase the importance of government satire, serving the political interests of the monarchy. She invited writers and publishers to follow her example. Russian society took advantage of this. In Russia, several satirical magazines immediately appeared ("Both, and Sio", "Mix", "Infernal Mail", "Drone", "Neither this nor this in prose and verse", "Podenshchina"). The most radical journals that fought with Catherine's Vsyakoy Vyachinoy were the journals of the outstanding Russian educator N. I. Novikov - Drone and Painter.
At the end of the 18th century, a new literary trend arose in literature - sentimentalism. He had a strong influence on A. N. Radishchev, the greatest Russian thinker and angry writer, whose feelings were outraged by the people's misfortunes, the oppressed position of the peasants and the common Russian people in general. His main work - "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" - was written in the genre of "travel" beloved by sentimentalists and was caused by spiritual shock from the pictures of injustice and lawlessness he saw. This "sensibility", this concern of the heart is extremely close to the sentimentalists. The founder of sentimentalism and the largest writer of this direction was N. M. Karamzin - a poet, prose writer, publicist, journalist, "the last chronicler and our first historian", according to Pushkin, and a reformer of the Russian literary language. Many poems, ballads and stories brought him all-Russian fame. His greatest merits are associated with such works as "Letters of a Russian Traveler", the story "Poor Liza", "History of the Russian State", as well as with the transformation of the literary language. Karamzin outlined and implemented a reform that eliminated the gap between oral, colloquial and written, bookish language Russian society. Karamzin wanted the Russian literary language to express the new concepts and ideas that developed in the 18th century as clearly and accurately as the French language, which was spoken by Russian educated society. The closest associate of Karamzin was I. I. Dmitriev, the author of popular historical and patriotic writings, songs, romances, satirical tales and fables (“Ermak”, “Liberation of Moscow”, “A blue dove is moaning ...”, “Alien sense”, “ Fashionable wife, etc.). The principles of sentimentalism were talentedly embodied in his songs in the folk spirit by Yu. A. Neledinsky-Meletsky, who owns several songs (for example, “I will go out to the river ...”) that have survived in the song repertoire to this day.
Russian literature of the 18th century, in its rapid development, ensured the future great achievements of the art of the word, which followed in the 19th century. She almost caught up with the presenters European literatures and was able "... to become on a par with the age in education."
WITHlist of used literature
1. Gukovsky G. A. Russian literature of the XVIII century. - M., 1999.
2. L.S. Pavlova. Books of the 18th century about the life and deeds of Peter I // Problems of studying Russian literature of the 18th century. Issue 13. St. Petersburg, Samara, 2007.
3. Buranok O. M. Literature of the Petrine era in the criticism of N. M. Karamzin // Karamzin collection: The work of N. M. Karamzin and the historical and literary process. - Ulyanovsk, 1996.
4. Grebenyuk V.P. Panegyric works of the first quarter of the 18th century. and their connection with the Petrine reforms // Russian early printed literature: XVI - the first quarter of the XVIII century: Panegyric literature of the time of Peter the Great. - M., 1979.
5. Moiseeva G. N. Ancient Russian literature in the artistic consciousness and historical thought of Russia in the 18th century. - L., 1980.
6. Berkov P. N. The task of studying the transitional period of Russian literature: from ancient to new // Ways of studying ancient Russian literature and writing. - L., 1970.
7. Nikolaev S. I. Literary culture of the Petrine era. - St. Petersburg, 1996.
8. Pekarsky P. Science and literature in Russia under Peter the Great. T. 1. - St. Petersburg, 1862.
Hosted on Allbest.ru
...Similar Documents
Characteristics and specific features of the literature of the Petrine era, the ideas and topics considered by it. The extra-class value of a person and its artistic expression in the satire of Cantemir. The genre of the fable in the literature of the XVIII century. (Fonvizin, Khemnitser, Dmitriev).
cheat sheet, added 01/20/2011
Identification of changes in the life of a woman of the era of Peter I on the example of the analysis of works of literature. The study of the story "About Peter and Fevronia" as a source of ancient Russian literature and Feofan Prokopovich's sermon as an example of the literature of the Petrine era.
term paper, added 08/28/2011
Classicism as a style, a direction that turned to the ancient heritage as a norm and an ideal model. Features of the development of this trend in the literature. The period of classicism in Russia, its supporters, tasks and genres of the literary movement.
abstract, added 02/09/2011
Analysis of the development of children's literature in Russia in various historical eras. The dependence of children's literature on the political, religious, ideological attitudes of society. The main trends in the development of Russian children's literature at the present stage.
thesis, added 11/18/2010
Analysis of articles of American journalism and literature, definition of the concept of the establishment. Formation of the bourgeois class in the context of American literature and journalism of the XX century. Approaches of American writers to the question of the essence of the elite.
term paper, added 07/09/2013
Stages of historical development of literature. Stages of development of the literary process and world art systems XIX-XX centuries. Regional, national specificity of literature and world literary relations. Comparative study of literature from different eras.
abstract, added 08/13/2009
Acquaintance with the main literary achievements of the Silver Age. Exploring Features modernist direction in literature. Consideration of the manifestations of symbolism, acmeism, futurism, imagism in the works of great Russian writers and poets.
presentation, added 10/22/2014
The main pathos in the literature of the Enlightenment period. Characteristics of the literature of the Enlightenment. Sentimentalism and its characteristics. Sentimentalism in English literature. Sentimentalism in French Literature. Sentimentalism in Russian Literature.
abstract, added 07/22/2008
Features of the formation of the national Russian literary language (on the example of the work of A.D. Kantemir and V.K. Trediakovsky). Satire as a literary genre within the poetics of classicism. Comparative characteristics spoken and literary languages.
abstract, added 09/15/2010
Culturological foundations of the study of literature in the aspect of literary education, methodological and methodological problems of the cultural approach. Culturological foundations of the study of ancient Russian literature in the aspect of the cultural values of the era.
The first quarter of the 17th century in Russia was marked by transformations directly related to the "Europeanization" of the country. The beginning of the Petrine era was accompanied by serious changes in manners and way of life. They touched upon the transformation of education and other spheres of public life. All reforms were carried out at the first stage extremely hard, often by force. Consider further the main events of the Petrine era.
Prerequisites for reforms
It must be said that the active penetration of Western European values was noted in the country throughout the entire 17th century. However, the direction of this influence was changed precisely by the Petrine era. The 18th century was a period of introduction of new values and ideas. The key object of the transformation was the life of the Russian nobility. The intensity of the reforms was determined primarily state purposes. Peter the Great sought to transform the administrative, military, industrial and financial spheres. To do this, he needed the experience and achievements of Europe. He associated the success of state reforms with the formation of a qualitatively new worldview of the elites, the restructuring of the life of the nobility.
First experience
The Petrine era was influenced by the Western way of life. The sympathy of the ruler of Russia appeared for European values in his youth. In their early years Peter often came to the German Quarter, where he made his first friends. After his first visit abroad, he had the idea to transfer customs, institutions, forms of entertainment and communication from Europe to Russia. However, he did not take into account that all this would be perceived with certain difficulties, since the soil and organic background for this in the country had not been created. The Petrine era, in short, is associated with the forcible introduction of European values into Russian life. As records show, the sovereign actually demanded that his subjects step over themselves and abandon the centuries-old traditions of their ancestors.
First conversions
If we talk about what the Petrine era was like, briefly, then rapprochement with the West was expressed in the government's concern that people in Russia even outwardly resemble Europeans. After arriving from abroad, Peter ordered to bring scissors and cut off the beards of the shocked boyars himself. This operation was performed by the sovereign more than once. The beard for him became a symbol of antiquity. He negatively perceived her presence on the face of the boyars. Although the beard has long acted as an inviolable decoration, a sign of honor and generosity, a source of pride. A decree of 1705 obliged all men, except for priests and monks, to shave their mustaches and beards. Thus, society was divided into 2 unequal parts. One - the nobility and the elite of the urban population, which was under pressure from Europeanization, while the other retained its usual way of life.
Painting
The artists of the Petrine era in their own way reflected the patterns of this historical period. It must be said that painting as a whole went out to new level with a certain delay in comparison with other advanced countries. The art of the Petrine era becomes secular. Initially, the new painting is approved in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Prior to this, the masters painted only icons. The culture of the Petrine era demanded the image of solemn battles glorifying victories, portraits of the tsar and subjects. Russian engravers could only illustrate church books. At a new historical stage, views of St. Petersburg, engravings for textbooks on artillery, architecture and maritime affairs were needed. The culture of the Petrine era was freed from the power of the church, trying to catch up with European countries that had gone far ahead.
Reform Specifics
Features of the culture of the Petrine era were manifested in a sharp transformation of the usual way of life of people. First of all, Russia began to join Western trends in painting. The transformations were carried out not only in order to attract foreign artists and craftsmen to the country. One of the key goals was the education of the domestic public, the introduction of the best European traditions. The training time for Russian masters did not last long. In the second half of the 18th century The artists who returned from Holland and Italy showed the world their talent and acquired skills, starting to create magnificent masterpieces. The new painting was distinguished by an increase in interest in man. Much attention has also been given to inner world, and body structure. Russian artists began to master the technical achievements of European masters. In their work they now use new materials: marble, oil, canvas. In painting, a direct perspective appears, capable of showing the volume and depth of space. The first artists of the new era were Matveev and Nikitin.
Engraving
She took a separate place in art in the first half of the 18th century. Engraving was considered the most accessible type of painting. She quickly responded to the events that took place in life. The range of subjects was reduced to portraits of great people, views of cities, battles, ceremonial events. The Petrine era gave Russia and the world such masters as Rostovtsev, Alexei and Ivan Zubov.
miniature portraits
They also began to appear at the beginning of the century. The first authors were Ovsov and Musikisky. At first, miniature portraits of statesmen and their relatives were created. However, after a while, the demand for these works grew so much that a special class was created at the Academy of Arts in the last quarter of the 18th century.
Books
The literature of the Petrine era most clearly reflected the trends of the new time. In 1717, "Reasoning ..." was published, which described the reasons for the war with Sweden. The publication was prepared by Vice-Chancellor Shafirov on behalf of the sovereign. This "Reasoning" became the first domestic diplomatic treatise on Russia's foreign policy priorities. Economic transformations were reflected in the works of Pososhkov. His most famous publication was The Book of Wealth and Poverty. Feofan Prokopovich, a supporter of church reform, was a brilliant writer, orator, church and public figure in the Petrine era. He developed the "Spiritual Regulations", "The Truth of the Monarchs' Will". Another prominent figure was He created such religious treatises as "The Stone of Faith", "The Sign of the Coming of the Antichrist." These writings were directed against Protestantism and reformism.
Entertainment
During the reforms, attempts were made to create public theaters in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Comedy and historical plays were staged on the stage (for example, Amphitryon and Dr. Enforced by Molière). The first domestic dramatic works began to appear. Thus, the Petrine era was marked by the creation of Prokopovich's tragicomedy "Vladimir", Zhukovsky's play "Glory of Russia". Changes in morals were manifested in the emergence of new types of entertainment. By the end of 1718, the elites of Petersburg society were informed of the introduction of assemblies. This idea was born by Peter after visiting French living rooms. They gathered and talked major political, scientific figures, painters and other representatives high society. By establishing assemblies in Russia, Peter sought to accustom the nobles to secular behavior, as well as to introduce the women of the state to public life. In the process of organization, the reformer used both the practical and theoretical achievements of Europe. The decree, which regulated the order of meetings in the houses, provided a list of rules, described the schedule of entertainment that those present had to follow.
chronology
"Utility" was the main idea that permeated the entire Petrine era. The years of the reign of the great reformer were marked by the introduction of a new chronology. Now the countdown was not from the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ. The New Year started on January 1, not September 1. Holidays were also established. So, Peter introduced the New Year. His celebration was to be carried out from 1 to 7 January. At the same time, the gates of the yards should be decorated with spruce, pine and juniper trees or branches. In the evenings it was prescribed to burn bonfires along the large streets, and people who met were supposed to congratulate each other. Fireworks were arranged in the capital on New Year's Eve. Peter thus became the founder of many public holidays. Victory celebrations began to take place following the example of the triumphs of Rome. In 1769, in the celebrations of the victory at Azov, key elements of future events appeared. Roman signs were quite clearly visible in them. By order of the sovereign, the triumphal gates were built.
Introducing women to secular life
Carrying out his reforms, Peter did not take into account that the population was not quite ready for them. So, for example, it was extremely problematic for women to move away from the house-building way of life at one moment. However, the reformer showed concern for them. He told women how to behave, dress, and speak. At first, at the assemblies, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, Russian ladies, tightly drawn into corsets, could not only dance gracefully and easily, but also did not know how they should sit or stand. For the most part, they were clumsy, clumsy.
The value of the Petrine era
The transformations of the sovereign allowed the country to reach a qualitatively new level. First of all, the backlog of cultural and economic spheres from the advanced countries of Europe has significantly decreased. In addition, Russia began to turn into a great and powerful power. Due to the introduction of European values, the country began to be perceived in the international arena. Thanks to Peter's reforms, now not a single an important event could not be solved without the participation of Russia. The changes that took place in the life of the state in the first quarter of the 18th century were very progressive. However, they further widened the gap between the nobility and the lower classes. Boyars have become a noble elite class. The use of cultural achievements and benefits has become only their privilege. All this was accompanied by the spread of contempt for the Russian language and ancient culture among the nobility. Many historians note that Europeanization intensified the negative cultural manifestations of pre-Petrine Russia. The innovations introduced were hard to perceive by the nobility. Often, transformations have provoked actions that are quite the opposite of what was expected. Politeness and courtesy by order could not become an internal need, they gave rise to rudeness and obscenity. The changes affected only the top of society. for a very long time after the end of the Petrine era, he did not go to the theater, did not read newspapers, did not know about the existence of assemblies. Thus, the reforms changed the social position of the privileged class towards the West, and the life of the lower classes - in the opposite direction, towards the East. On the one hand, transformations in the sphere of everyday life and culture formed the conditions for the development of education, science, and literature. However, many European values and stereotypes were transferred in a violent and mechanical way. This created significant obstacles to the full development of native Russian culture based on ancient national traditions. Representatives of the nobility, accepting European values, quite sharply departed from the people. The keeper of Russian culture - the Russian peasant - was attached to national traditions. And this connection of his only intensified in the course of the modernization of the state. As a result, a deep socio-cultural split in society began. All these phenomena largely predetermined the sharp contradictions and the strength of the social upheavals that arose at the beginning of the 20th century.
Conclusion
Peter's transformations in the cultural, public sphere of the life of the state were distinguished by a pronounced political character. Often the reforms were carried out by violent methods. People were forced to accept alien values, sciences. All this was done in the interests of the state, which was formed according to the strict orders of the monarch. The fundamental difference between the Russian Empire, created in a quarter of a century, should have been emphasized by the external attributes of the Petrine era. The reformer tried to give majesty to the state, to bring it into international relationships as a European country. That is why they were so actively introduced into the life of the Reforms touched absolutely all spheres of life of the nobles. In the early stages of innovation caused stiff resistance. However, disobedience to the monarch was not allowed. The elite classes had to obey and learn to live by the new rules. By introducing reforms, Peter sought to ensure that the nobility received practical European experience. Therefore, he often traveled abroad himself, sent his subjects abroad, invited foreigners to Russia. He sought to bring the country out of political isolation. In the era of Peter, a huge number of works of art appeared. Russian craftsmen, having adopted the experience and skills of Europeans, created masterpieces that later became known to the whole world. Significant changes were noted in the architecture. Despite the rather harsh introduction of innovations, Russia was able to get closer to Europe. However, as mentioned above, the reforms affected only the upper classes. The peasantry continued to be uneducated. The lower classes were the keepers of the ancient traditions and held them sacred. The identity of Peter is considered controversial by many historians. His reforms are also ambiguously perceived by researchers. His transformations affected not only customs and life, art and architecture. The military sphere and the administrative apparatus underwent significant changes. Many innovations are firmly rooted in the country. Subsequent generations improved the system created by Peter. The monarch became a symbol of decisive transformations, fruitfulness and efficiency in the use of Western European achievements.
Peter did a tremendous job in the country. Despite the fact that he did not take into account many circumstances and features, historians recognize that the state during his reign took a huge step forward. Society has become progressive, secular, educated, educated. It can be said that Wu is practically the only ruler who retained the title of Great, bestowed on him during his lifetime.
In the literature of the first quarter of the XVIII century. old forms of literary works were also preserved. But they were filled with new content
The literature of the time of Peter the Great is very heterogeneous. This is due to the fact that foreign culture was introduced into both noble culture and folk culture. And this process took place under the condition that for many centuries Russian culture still did not really assimilate the Byzantine Orthodox cultural heritage.
In the literature of the Petrine era, folk art had little contact with the work of the elite. The cultural life of the people is characterized by the fact that the peasantry freed itself from the persecution of the church of archaic-Slavic paganism. There were fewer persecutions of pagan festivals with their stormy hums, dances, round dances, etc. Important milestones of the Russian wars began to be imprinted among the people in the form of epics, historical songs, (mainly soldiers') in the form of fairy tales, parables. They reflected the Battle of Poltava, the capture of Azov, Narva. Folk art represents the exploits of the Russian soldier. In epics, historical songs, fairy tales, the personality of Peter I is reflected in a legendary form.
Peasants also read literature traditional for them - instructive works, "lives", collections of spiritual poems, slander, medical books, calendars.
Noble literature reflected the new realities of life. In the works of fiction, new heroes appear - energetic and enterprising people " sharp mind"and" worthy reason ". Among them, it should be noted such prosaic works of art as "The Tale of Frol Skobeev", "History of Alexander, a Russian nobleman", "History of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky. During this period, the number of printed books of non-religious content increased markedly. These were scientific books and dictionaries, and fiction, and books of everyday purpose. So in 1708 came out "Butts, how compliments are written." It was the latest sample of letters of various content using the latest vocabulary.
And the vocabulary of the time of Peter the Great developed under the great influence of the West. The ruling class, especially its elite, spoke an amazing language, where foreign words and terms abounded.
the most prominent representative domestic literature of that time was F. Prokopovich.
The literary work of the time of Peter the Great prepared Russia's entry into the era of classicism.
The development of theatrical art
In 1702, a public theater was opened in Moscow, in a building built on Red Square. The German actors of the group I. Kupst, O. Furst played there. The repertoire consisted of German, French, Spanish plays. However, such a theater was still rare. More common were private theaters, which were known to a narrow circle of spectators. In the Petrine era, students of various academies, theological seminaries, etc. were fond of the theater. In their productions, allusions were made to ongoing political events, for example, to the rebellions of the archers, to the betrayal of Mazepa, and opponents of enlightenment were ridiculed.
They staged theaters and purely historical plays. The most famous of them was F. Prokopovich's tragicomedy "Vladimir".
F. Prokopovich, Dr. Bideon, Fyodor Zhukovsky were prominent figures in theatrical business.
