Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Autonomous non-profit educational organization
higher education
"Sevastopol Maritime Academy"
Departments of Philology
in the discipline "History of Russian literature"
"Literature of the Petrine era"
Executor:
Dremzhi Aider Abdullaevich
Student of group PR-114, 1st year
(day department)
scientific adviser
Racheeva Ludmila Petrovna
Senior Lecturer
Department of Philology
Sevastopol 2014
Introduction. General characteristics of Russian literature of the 18th century ..............................3
1. Literature of the Petrine era ........................ .................... .......... .......4
1.1.Publicism .............................................. ..... ......................... ....6
1.2.Theatre..................... .......................... .... ............................. ..........7
1.3. Tales of the Petrine era ......................... .................... .........7
1.4. Poetry................. .............................. .. .........................eight
2. Literature of 30-50 years ............................. .................. ............ .................10
2.1. Classicism as literary direction................... .......11
2.2. The originality of Russian classicism .............................................. 12
2.3. Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir.................................................13
2.3.1. The satires of Cantemir Antiochus...................... ............... 15
Conclusion.................... ............................. . ............................. ................... ......eighteen
List of references .............................................................. ....................22
Introduction. General characteristics of Russian literature of the XVIII century
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 a secularizing culture left their mark on literature, in which, from the second half of XVII century, interest in depicting the human personality 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 artistic experience, its original and creative processing, which continued in the Petrine era, began.
The assimilation of the new did not mean a decisive break with domestic literary traditions, but in many respects made it possible to further develop a number of features of precisely Russian 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. The works of 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 of the 18th century 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 French literature of the 17th-18th centuries in those years.
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 must 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 to him public policy. 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 neighboring 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, quite unusual books appeared, 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 youths. 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 boring and boring, from the template.
The Petrine era is rightfully considered a turning point in cultural development Russia. On one side of this historical period lies ancient literature, on the other - 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. The rejection of the baroque as a system 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 a word, now the word has become a 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, Saint Petersburg Vedomosti, began to appear in Russia, 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. That's why special meaning 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, a civil alphabet was introduced in Russia. This contributed to the publication of a large number of political and journalistic works, educational books, translated and original historical writings.
The Petrine era, which caused a fruitful revival in all areas cultural life, 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, a "comedy theater" was set up in Moscow. 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 justify the hopes of the government.
In 1707 a new theater was organized 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 a high position in society thanks not to his 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.
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. We touched on the transformation of education and other areas 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. On the 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 masters. 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. great attention began to be 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 were created statesmen and their relatives. 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. A brilliant writer, orator, church and public figure in the Petrine era was a supporter of the reform of the church Feofan Prokopovich. 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. 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 as international arena. Thanks to Peter's reforms, now not a single important event was decided 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 point out that Europeanization increased the negative cultural manifestations 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 situation 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. Fundamental difference Russian Empire, created over a quarter of a century, should have been emphasized external attributes Peter's era. The reformer tried to give majesty to the state, to bring it into international relationships as 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 noted in 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.
The political ideology of the time of Peter the Great, based, on the one hand, on the fundamental principles of the preceding Russian literature - its publicism, citizenship, patriotic pathos, is thus associated with national cultural traditions; on the other hand, it is established on the philosophical foundations of European enlightenment thought of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. and finds expression in the artistic system of classicism.
Therefore, already in the period of early formation, Russian classicism had a number of significant differences from European, in particular French, classicism. The most prominent French satirist poet N. Boileau, the author of the "Poetic Art" - the theoretical code of classicism, was sharply hostile to all forms of the national poetic tradition, considering it a manifestation of the "plebeian" principle he hated.
In building new literature French classicists relied on antique art. Unlike European classicism consciously cultivating the rationalistic art of the educated classes of society and deliberately starting from contact with the “unreasonable” creativity of the masses, Russian classicism proceeded from other positions on the issue of previous national culture.
Interest in their own "antiquity" - Old Russian literature and culture was feature emerging new Russian literature. And this feature of early classicism determined the originality further development Russian literature.
Despite the complexity of the movement of historical literary process 18th century writers' appeal to national themes, to artistic traditions Ancient Rus' played a role in shaping the ideological and stylistic features of the works of Russian literature of various literary trends.
At the same time, already in the XVIII century. with the name of Peter I began to associate "suppression" national traditions in culture and literature, because his reforms were a sharp "leap" to European education and a complete distance from the national culture (M. M. Shcherbatov, N. M. Karamzin).
The opinion about the interruption of national traditions in the Russian culture of the time of Peter the Great, although in a somewhat modernized form, has come down to our time. Thus, B. I. Bursov writes in his study: “In the 18th century, Russian literature broke sharply with ancient national literary forms. Consequently, differences, rather than commonality, come to the fore here.
In reality, everything is much more complicated, and pointing to the “break” and “break” is impossible to indicate the whole variety of changes that took place in Russian literature in the first decades of the 18th century. With all the striving for transformations in the field of politics, science and culture and attention to Western European models, Peter I was far from being as unambiguous as it is commonly thought, he treated ancient Russian literature, monuments of literature and art.
It suffices to recall some facts that make us think differently about the cultural policy of Peter I and his position in relation to national traditions.
According to P. N. Krekshin (based, as he writes, on the story of the teacher of Peter I - N. M. Zotov), on June 1 and 2, 1684, Peter I (who was then 12 years old) examined the Patriarchal Library and found in it handwritten books "are scattered in great disorder and many have decayed, for which he was extremely angry with the patriarch and left without saying a word."
At the same time, he ordered N. M. Zotov "to sort out these books, put them in order, make an inventory of them and keep that library behind the royal seal." “Description of the Patriarchal Library”, carried out in 1718, was the implementation of the instructions of Peter I.
In the personal library of Peter I, among the books on the most diverse branches of knowledge, there were also ancient Russian manuscripts that arrived after the death of the tsar in the library of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Passing through Koenigsberg in 1711, Peter I visited the Royal Library, where he saw an ancient Russian manuscript decorated with miniatures, which was presented to the library by the Polish magnate N. Radzivil. Peter I immediately ordered an exact copy of the manuscript and drawings for his library. The so-called Peter's copy of the Koenigsberg (Radzivilov) chronicle, which has been in the library of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences since 1725, played extremely important role in the history of Russian science.
Until 1758 (when the original Koenigsberg Chronicle was brought to St. Petersburg), the following people worked on the Petrovsky copy: I. B. Pause (who translated it into German), G.-Z. Bayer, V. N. Tatishchev, G. F. Miller (who published excerpts from the chronicle in Sammlung russischer Geschichte in 1732-1735) and M. V. Lomonosov, who prepared the first edition of this chronicle with the participation of I. S. Barkov in 1767
Attaching serious importance to ancient Russian monuments, Peter I issued decrees in 1720 and 1722. on the collection of manuscripts in churches and monasteries and on sending them to the Synodal Library. S. R. Dolgova established a previously unknown fact: at the direction of Peter I, it was planned to prepare a new edition of the first printed "Apostle" in 1564.
Undoubtedly, the concerns of Peter I about the preservation Old Russian manuscripts were dictated by the understanding of the significance of these monuments as sources of information on the history of Russia. It is known that Peter I instructed F. P. Polikarpov, a Moscow printing house’s director, to compile a “History of Russia”, brought to the present.
But the educated and industrious translator, compiler of multilingual lexicons F. P. Polikarpov was not able to undertake a new type of work: he compiled a compilation from chronicle sources, removing the description of miracles and signs, and the history of the beginning of the 18th century. (until 1710) was a conscientious collection of news from the diary of B.P. Sheremetev, reports on military operations during the period Northern war and decrees of the king. Peter I was not satisfied with the work of F. P. Polikarpov, and his "History of Russia" was not published.
One can think, therefore, that Peter I expected to see in a work on history not a listing in chronological order information drawn from several sources, but an essay based on reliable historical facts that meets aesthetic requirements and meets the socio-political tasks of the time.
Peter I attached great importance to historical writings telling about the past of Russia and Western European countries.
But at the same time, he pays attention to the description of contemporary events and takes a personal part in compiling the history of the Northern War between Russia and Sweden.
Five editions of the History of the Svean War have been preserved with notes and editorial corrections by Peter I, who, as can be seen from the nature of his comments and corrections, was concerned not only with the completeness of the factual data, but also with the literary side of the work. His stylistic corrections reveal the desire for simplicity, clarity and intelligibility of presentation. historical facts, to the elimination of "rhetorical embellishments". The aesthetic position of Peter I played a certain role in the formation of Russian literature in the early 18th century.
Formation of a new type of historical writings based on in-depth study traditions of ancient Russian chronicle writing, taking into account the experience of European historical and socio-political thought, determined the direction of development of Russian historiography of the 18th century. S. L. Peshtich noted that “the development of Russian historical thought in many respects went parallel to the development of Russian fiction in the 18th century.”
Therefore, the historical works of F. Prokopovich, V. N. Tatishchev, M. V. Lomonosov and N. M. Karamzin, whose work completes the historical and aesthetic heritage of the 18th century, are both works on history and literary monuments.
The Petrine era, with its secular, cheerful beginning, with the assertion of a person's right to earthly happiness, contributed to the flourishing of poetry. Changes in public life and family life, the introduction of assemblies, where men and women held festive meetings together, the liberation of women from "terem seclusion" - all this established new relationships.
M. M. Shcherbatov, defining the chronological boundaries of “damage to morals in Russia”, wrote that in early XVIII in. "The passion of love, until then almost unknown in coarse morals, began to take possession of sensitive hearts."
Numerous samples of love poems of the early 18th century, found in manuscript collections, allow us to get an idea of their character. They differ in extreme variegation of vocabulary.
Along with Church Slavonicisms, the presence of Ukrainian and Polish phraseology, there are inclusions of the business language of the time of Peter the Great, flavored with mannerisms and gallant sophistication, which indicates the active linguistic influences of translated literature, which played a significant role in the formation of the Russian language in the first decades of the 18th century. Metaphors, images and symbols associated with the traditions of the Western European Renaissance appear in book poetry.
Love poems are full of the names of ancient gods and goddesses: the hero mourns his heart, shot through by the “sharp arrow of Cupid” (Cupid): “Oh, a mortal wound shot into the heart, Evil Cupid pierced right through me.”
Love lyrics of the first decades of the 18th century. painted in sensitive - sentimental tops, equipped with an emotionally elevated phraseology: the hearts of lovers are "wounded by sadness", they shed "tearful rain", their love is a "flame", it "give birth to sparks in the heart", ignites a "fire".
Spectacular baroque comparisons of the beauty of the beloved with flowers, with precious stones and metals (“the most fragrant color, the most beautiful sapphire”, “an invaluable treasure, a braliant”, “the eye has a magnet in itself”) create the peculiar character of these songs - early examples of Russian poetry.
In the formation of the "love phraseology" of literature, a certain role belongs to the folk lyrical song. The love poetry of that time was greatly influenced by the translated literature that came to Russia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. through Poland.
Early lyrical songs were included in the collections of the 1720s - early 1730s: “The flower is red and fragrant”, “My clear light, more fizzy beautiful”, “I have no joy from great pity”, “Dearest Adamant, sweeter than honey” , "The light of my eyes, very clear" and "Ashcha who can know."
Many songs are dedicated to Fortune - fate. A. V. Pozdneev rightly connects their appearance with “the time of breaking old concepts and everyday habits, as well as the establishment of a new secular worldview”:
Fortune is evil! What are you doing like that
Why are you separating me from my darling?
I wanted to die in love stay
You try to hide me from her.
Or do you not know, Fortune is evil,
Kohl mi is sweet that my dear?
Carry her red in this visible world,
On the vertegrad - a beautiful color.
In the first decades of the 18th century arose and new type Russian storytelling. Samples of it we are sitting in the "History of the Russian sailor Vasily Kariotsky and beautiful princess Heraclius of the Florensky land", in "History about the brave Russian cavalier Alexander and about the lovers of Evo Tyre and Eleanor" and "History about a certain gentry son, who, through his high and glorious science, earned himself great glory and honor and cavalry rank and what for his good deeds he was granted by the prince in England.
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 achieves a high position in society thanks not to his 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.
"Histories" about the sailor Vasily, about the cavalier Alexander and about the gentry's son differ significantly from narrative writings second half of the 17th century. Histories are entirely secular works, their plot is fictional and develops along the line of revealing the character of the protagonist, whose fate is the result of his actions, and not the actions of inescapable fate, as outlined in The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn and developed in The Tale of Gor -Misfortunes.
The "sharp mind" Russian sailor Vasily overcomes all obstacles and becomes the king of Florence; the Russian cavalier Alexander, respected for his personal bravery and courage, dies during his return to Russia, having lost hope of redeeming himself for his idle time; the son of the gentry "for his high science" is granted by the English prince, but dies because of the intrigues of the court nobles.
History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983
“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. literary phenomena 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 come across such phenomena that, while not of interest from an aesthetic, artistic point of view, are of great importance from the point of view of the 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 based on the leading stylistic trends in artistic culture 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 in. 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 theme of love (with rare exceptions, love is interpreted as an obsession of the devil; only conjugal love was recognized). In the Petrine era, it spreads love lyrics(the so-called "kants"), in which folklore images from folk poetry peacefully coexisted with the 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 in late XVII- early 18th century 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 bureaucracy, 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.
In the literature of the first quarter of the XVIII century. retained the old forms literary works. But they were filled with new content
The literature of the time of Peter the Great is very heterogeneous. This is because foreign culture also implemented in noble culture and in folk. 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 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 reflected in the legendary form of the personality of Peter I.
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 of reason. " Among them 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 both scientific books and dictionaries, and fiction, and books of everyday purpose. So in 1708 came out "Butts, how compliments are written." This was latest sample letters of various content with the use of the latest vocabulary.
And the vocabulary of the time of Peter the Great developed under the great influence of the West. ruling class, especially its top spoke in an amazing language, where foreign words and terms.
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.
