Incurred the wrath of Vladimir Monomakh, and he was drowned for having robbed two citizens of Novgorod; in another version of the same chronicle, it is said that he was exiled. Danube Ivanovich is often mentioned in the annals of the 13th century as one of the servants of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich, and Sukhman Dolmantievich (Odikhmantievich) was identified with the Pskov prince Domant (Dovmont).
Origin of epics
There are several theories to explain the origin and composition of epics:
- The mythological theory sees in epics stories about natural phenomena, in heroes - the personification of these phenomena and their identification with the gods of the ancient Slavs (Orest Miller, Afanasiev).
- The historical theory explains epics as a trace historical events, sometimes confused in people's memory (Leonid Maikov, Kvashnin-Samarin).
- Borrowing theory points to literary background epics (Theodor Benfey, Vladimir Stasov, Veselovsky, Ignatiy Yagich), and some tend to see borrowing through the influence of the East (Stasov, Vsevolod Miller), others - the West (Veselovsky, Sozonovich).
As a result, one-sided theories gave way to a mixed one, allowing the presence of elements in epics. folk life, history, literature, eastern and western borrowings. Initially, it was assumed that the epics, which are grouped according to the place of action into the Kyiv and Novgorod cycles, are mainly of southern Russian origin and only later transferred to the north; according to other epics, a local phenomenon (Khalansky). Over the centuries, epics underwent various changes, and were constantly influenced by books and borrowed much from medieval Russian literature and oral legends of the West and East. Adherents of the mythological theory divided the heroes of the Russian epic into older and younger ones; later it was proposed (Khalansky) division into the pre-Tatar, the times of the Tatar region and the post-Tatar era.
Reading epics
Epics are written in tonic verse, which may have a different number of syllables, but approximately the same number of stresses. Some stressed syllables are pronounced with the stress removed. At the same time, it is not necessary that in all verses of one epic an equal number of stresses be preserved: in one group there may be four, in another three, in the third - two. In an epic verse, the first stress, as a rule, falls on the third syllable from the beginning, and the last stress on the third syllable from the end.
How Ilya galloped and from the good horse,
He fell down to his mother damp earth:
How mother earth is knocking
Yes, under the same eastern side.
Specificity
Epics are one of the most remarkable phenomena Russian folk literature; in epic calmness, richness of details, liveliness of color, distinctness of the characters of the depicted persons, a variety of mythical, historical and everyday elements, they are not inferior to the German heroic epos and epic folk art all other peoples, with the exception of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Epics are epic songs about Russian heroes; it is here that we find a reproduction of their common, typical properties and the history of their life, their exploits and aspirations, feelings and thoughts. Each of these songs speaks mainly about one episode in the life of one hero, and thus a series of songs of a fragmentary nature are obtained, grouped around the main representatives of Russian heroes. The number of songs also increases due to the fact that there are several versions, more or less different, of the same epic. All epics, except for the unity of the described subject, are also characterized by the unity of presentation: they are imbued with an element of the miraculous, a sense of freedom and (according to Orest Miller) the spirit of the community. Miller has no doubt that the independent spirit of the past Russian epic is a reflection of the old veche freedom, preserved by free Cossacks and free Olonets peasants, not captured by serfdom. According to the same scientist, the spirit of the community, embodied in epics, is an internal link that connects the Russian epic and the history of the Russian people.
Stylistics
In addition to the internal, the external unity of epics is also noticed, in verse, syllable and language: the verse of the epic consists either of trochees with a dactylic ending, or of mixed trochees with dactyls, or, finally, of anapaests; there are no consonances at all and everything is based on the musicality of the verse; in that epics are written in verse, they differ from "visits", in which the verse has long been decomposed into a prose story. The syllable in epics is distinguished by the richness of poetic turns; it is replete with epithets, parallelisms, comparisons, examples, and other poetic figures, without losing at the same time its clarity and naturalness of presentation. Epics with keep pretty a large number archaisms, especially in typical parts. Hilferding divided each epic into two parts: one - changing according to the will of the "storyteller"; the other is typical, which the narrator must always convey as accurately as possible, without changing a single word. The typical part contains everything essential that is said about the hero; the rest is presented only as a background for the main drawing.
Formulas
Number of epics
To give an idea of the number of epics, we note their statistics given in Galakhov's History of Russian Literature. Some epics of the Kiev cycle were collected: in the Moscow province - 3, in Nizhny Novgorod 6, in Saratov 10, in Simbirsk 22, in Siberia 29, in Arkhangelsk 34, in Olonets up to 300 - all together about 400, not counting the epics of Novgorod, later Moscow and others. All epics known to us, according to their place of origin, are divided into: Kyiv, Novgorod and all-Russian, later ones.
Chronologically, in the first place, according to Orest Miller, are epics telling about the heroes of the matchmakers (see the article Bogatyrs); then those that are generally called Kyiv and Novgorod: apparently, they arose before the XIV century; then come completely historical epics, relating to the Moscow period of the Russian state, and finally epics relating to the events of recent times.
The last two categories of epics are not of particular interest and do not require extensive explanations; therefore, until now, in general, little has been done about them. But the epics of the so-called Novgorod and especially the Kiev cycle are of great importance, although one cannot look at these epics as stories about events that really took place at one time in the form in which they are presented in songs: the miraculous element completely contradicts this. If the epics do not seem to be a reliable history of people who really once lived on Russian soil, then their content must certainly be explained differently.
The study of epics
The scholarly researchers of the folk epic have resorted to two methods in these explanations: historical and comparative. Strictly speaking, both of these methods in most studies are reduced to one comparative method, and it is hardly correct to refer here to the historical method. In fact, the historical method consists in the fact that for a known, for example, linguistic, phenomenon, we archival searches or the theoretical selection of later elements we are looking for more and more ancient form and thus we come to the original - simplest form. The “historical” method was not applied to the study of epics in the same way. Here it was impossible to compare new editions with older ones, since we do not have these latter at all; on the other side, literary criticism noted in the most general terms only the nature of the changes that B. underwent over time, without touching on very individual particulars. The so-called historical method in the study of epics, in fact, consisted in comparing the plots of epics with chronicles; and since the comparative method was the one in which the plots of epics were compared with the plots of other folk (mostly mythical) or foreign works, it turns out that here the difference is not at all in the method itself, but simply in the material of comparisons. So, in essence, it is only on the basis of the comparative method that the four main theories of the origin of epics are substantiated: historical and everyday, mythological, the theory of borrowings, and, finally, the mixed theory, which now enjoys the greatest credit.
Epic stories
Before proceeding to a general outline of the theories themselves, a few words should be said about the meaning of epic stories. Any literary work can be divided into several highlights the described action; The combination of these moments makes up the plot this work. Thus, the plots are more or less complex. Several literary works can be based on the same plot, which even, due to the variety of secondary changing features, for example, motives of action, background, accompanying circumstances, etc., may seem completely dissimilar at first glance. One could even go further and say that every plot, without exception, always forms the basis of more or less literary works, and that very often there are fashionable plots that are processed almost at the same time at all ends. the globe. If now in two or more literary works we find a common plot, then three explanations are allowed here: either in these several localities the plots developed independently, independently of each other and thus constitute a reflection of real life or natural phenomena; either these plots were inherited by both peoples from common ancestors; or, finally, one people borrowed the plot from another. Already a priori one can say that cases of independent coincidence of plots should be very rare, and the more complex the plot, the more independent it should be. This is mainly based on the historical-everyday theory, which completely loses sight of the similarity of the plots of Russian epics with the works of other peoples or considers it to be an accidental phenomenon. According to this theory, the heroes are representatives of different classes of the Russian people, while epics are poetic and symbolic stories of historical incidents or pictures of the phenomena of folk life. The mythological theory is based on the first and second assumptions, according to which similar plots in the works Indo-European peoples inherited from common pra-Aryan ancestors; the similarity between the plots of heterogeneous peoples is explained by the fact that in various countries people looked at the same natural phenomenon, which served as material for similar plots, in the same way and interpreted it in the same way. Finally, the borrowing theory is based on the 3rd explanation, according to which the plots of Russian epics were transferred to Russia from the East and West.
All the above theories were distinguished by their extremeness; so, for example, on the one hand, Orest Miller in his "Experience" argued that the comparative method serves to ensure that in compared works belonging to different nations, the sharper, the more definite the differences appeared; on the other hand, Stasov directly expressed the opinion that the epics were borrowed from the East. In the end, however, scientists came to the conclusion that epics are a very complex phenomenon, in which heterogeneous elements are mixed: historical, everyday, mythical and borrowed. A. N. Veselovsky gave some instructions that can guide the researcher and protect him from the arbitrariness of the theory of borrowings; namely, in the CCXXIII issue of the “Journal of the Ministry of Public Education,” the learned professor writes: “In order to raise the issue of transferring narrative plots, it is necessary to stock up on sufficient criteria. It is necessary to take into account the actual possibility of influence and its external traces in one's own names and in the remains of alien life and in the aggregate of similar signs, because each individually can be deceptive. Khalansky joined this opinion, and now the study of epics has been put on the correct point of view. At present, the main aspiration of scholarly researchers of epics is directed towards subjecting these works to the most thorough, if possible, analysis, which should finally indicate what exactly in epics is the indisputable property of the Russian people, as symbolic picture natural, historical or everyday phenomena, and what is borrowed from other peoples.
The time of folding epics
Regarding the time of origin of the epics, Leonid Maikov expressed himself most definitely, writing: “Although there are those between the plots of the epics that can be traced back to the era of the prehistoric affinity of Indo-European legends, nevertheless, the entire content of the epics, including these ancient legends is presented in such an edition that can be timed only for positive historical period. The content of epics was developed during and XII centuries, and was established in the second half of the specific veche period in the XIII and XIV centuries. To this we can add the words of Khalansky: “In the XIV century, border fortresses, prisons were set up, border guards were established, and at that time the image of heroes standing at the outpost, protecting the borders of the Svyatorusskaya land, was formed.” Finally, according to Orest Miller, the great antiquity of the epics is proved by the fact that they depict a policy that is still defensive, not offensive.
Place of occurrence of epics
As for the place where the epics originated, opinions are divided: the most common theory suggests that the epics are of South Russian origin, that their original basis is South Russian. Only over time, due to the mass migration of people from South Rus' to the North, epics were transferred there, and then they were forgotten in their original homeland, due to the influence of other circumstances that caused Cossack thoughts. Khalansky opposed this theory, condemning at the same time the theory of the original all-Russian epic. He says: "All-Russian ancient epic- the same fiction as the ancient common Russian language. Each tribe had its own epic - Novgorod, Slovenian, Kiev, Polyansky, Rostov (cf. the indications of the Tver Chronicle), Chernigov (tales in the Nikon Chronicle). Everyone knew about Vladimir, as a reformer of all ancient Russian life, and everyone sang about him, and there was an exchange of poetic material between individual tribes. In the XIV and XV centuries, Moscow became a collector of Russian epic, which at the same time was increasingly concentrated in the Kiev cycle, since Kiev epics had an assimilating influence on the rest, due to the song tradition, religious relations, etc .; thus in late XVI century, the unification of epics into the Kiev circle was completed (although, however, not all epics joined it: these include the entire Novgorod cycle and some individual epics, for example, about Surovets Suzdalets and Saul Levanidovich). Then, from the Muscovite kingdom, epics spread to all sides of Russia by ordinary transmission, and not by emigration to the north, which did not exist. Such, in general terms, are Khalansky's views on this subject. Maikov says that the activity of the squad, expressed in the exploits of its representatives, heroes, is the subject of epics. Just as the squad adjoined the prince, so the actions of the heroes are always connected with one main person. According to the same author, buffoons and buffoons sang epics, playing on the sonorous harp harp or whistle, but they were mostly listened to by the boyars, the retinue.
How far the study of epics is still imperfect and what contradictory results it has led some scientists to can be judged by at least one of the following facts: Orest Miller, an enemy of the theory of borrowings, who tried to find a purely folk Russian character everywhere in epics, says: “If reflected some eastern influence on Russian epics, so only on those that, in their entire household warehouse, differ from the warehouse of the Old Slavonic; these include epics about Nightingale Budimirovich and Churil. And another Russian scientist, Khalansky, proves that the epic about Nightingale Budimirovich is in the closest connection with Great Russian wedding songs. What Orest Miller considered completely alien to the Russian people - that is, the self-marriage of a girl - according to Khalansky, still exists in some places in southern Russia.
Let us give here, however, at least in general terms, more or less reliable research results obtained by Russian scientists. That the epics have undergone many and, moreover, strong changes, there is no doubt; but it is extremely difficult at the present time to specify exactly what these changes were. Based on the fact that a heroic or heroic nature in itself is everywhere distinguished by the same qualities - an excess physical strength and inseparable from such an excess of rudeness, Orest Miller argued that the Russian epic at the first stages of its existence should have been distinguished by the same rudeness; but since, together with softening folk customs, the same mitigation is also reflected in the folk epic, therefore, in his opinion, this mitigating process must certainly be allowed in the history of Russian epics. According to the same scientist, epics and fairy tales developed from the same foundation. If the essential property of epics is historical timing, then the less noticeable it is in the epics, the closer it comes to a fairy tale. Thus, the second process in the development of epics is clarified: timing. But, according to Miller, there are also such epics in which there is still no historical timing at all, and, however, he does not explain to us why he does not consider such works to be fairy tales (“Experience”). Then, according to Miller, the difference between a fairy tale and an epic lies in the fact that in the first the mythical meaning was forgotten earlier and it is confined to the earth in general; in the second, the mythical meaning has undergone changes, but not oblivion.
On the other hand, Maikov notices in epics the desire to smooth out the miraculous. The miraculous element in fairy tales plays a different role than in epics: there miraculous performances form the main plot of the plot, and in epics they only supplement the content taken from real life; their purpose is to give a more ideal character to the heroes. According to Volner, the content of epics is now mythical, and the form is historical, especially all typical places: names, names of localities, etc.; epithets correspond to the historical, and not the epic character of the persons to whom they refer. But initially the content of the epics was completely different, namely, really historical. This happened by transferring epics from the South to the North by Russian colonists: gradually these colonists began to forget the ancient content; they were carried away by new stories, which were more to their liking. Typical places remained inviolable, and everything else changed over time.
According to Yagich, all Russian folk epic thoroughly imbued with Christian-mythological legends, apocryphal and non-apocryphal character; much in content and motives is borrowed from this source. New borrowings pushed into the background ancient material, and epics can therefore be divided into three categories:
- to songs with obviously borrowed biblical content;
- to songs with originally borrowed content, which, however, is processed more independently
- on songs quite folk, but containing episodes, appeals, phrases, names borrowed from the Christian world.
Orest Miller does not quite agree with this, arguing that the Christian element in the epic concerns only appearance. In general, however, one can agree with Maikov that epics were subjected to constant processing, according to new circumstances, as well as the influence of the singer's personal views.
Veselovsky says the same thing, arguing that epics are presented as material subjected not only to historical and everyday use, but also to all the accidents of oral retelling (“South Russian epics”).
Volner in the epic about Sukhman even sees the influence of the latest sentimental literature of the 18th century, and Veselovsky about the epic “How the heroes were transferred” says this: “The two halves of the epic are connected by a common place of a very suspicious nature, showing, as if, that outside the epic was touched by an aesthetically correcting hand. Finally, in the content of individual epics, it is easy to notice layers at different times (the type of Alyosha Popovich), a mixture of several originally independent epics into one (Volga Svyatoslavich or Volkh Vseslavich), that is, the union of two plots, borrowing one epics from another (according to Volner, the beginning of epics about Dobrynya taken from epics about Volga, and the end from epics about Ivan Godinovich), extensions (epic about Nightingale Budimirovich from Kirsha), greater or lesser damage to the epic (Rybnikov’s common epic about Berin’s son, according to Veselovsky), etc.
It remains to be said about one side of the epics, namely, their present episodic, fragmentary nature. Orest Miller speaks about this in more detail than others, who believed that initially the epics were a number of independent songs, but over time, folk singers began to link these songs into large cycles: in a word, the same process took place that in Greece, India, Iran and Germany led to the creation of integral epics, for which separate folk songs served only as material. Miller recognizes the existence of a united, integral circle of Vladimirov, kept in the memory of the singers, who at one time formed, in all likelihood, closely united brotherhoods. Now there are no such brotherhoods, the singers are separated, and in the absence of reciprocity, no one between them is able to store in his memory all the links of the epic chain without exception. All this is very doubtful and not based on historical data; thanks to careful analysis, one can only assume, together with Veselovsky, that “some epics, for example Hilferding 27 and 127, are, firstly, the product of the separation of epics from the Kiev connection and a secondary attempt to bring them into this connection after development on the side” (“ South Russian epics).
Collections
The main collections of epics:
- Kirshi Danilova, Ancient Russian Poems (published in 1804, 1818 and 1878);
- Kireevsky, X editions, published in Moscow in 1860 and later; Rybnikov, four parts (1861-1867);
- Hilferding, ed. Giltebrant under the title: "Onega epics" (St. Petersburg, 1873);
- Avenarius, "The Book of the Kyiv Bogatyrs" (St. Petersburg, 1875);
- Khalansky (1885).
- Complete set of Kyiv epics. Literary processing by A. Lelchuk. http://byliny.narod.ru Epics are built chronologically and in meaning into a single heroic story. The language is modern, but the rhythm and style of the original is preserved as much as possible. Characters and plots are sorted, duplicates and repetitions are removed. Compiled conditional map Epic Rus'.
In addition, variants of epics are found:
- Shane in collections of Great Russian songs (“Readings of the Moscow Society of History and Antiquities” 1876 and 1877, etc.);
- Kostomarov and Mordovtseva (in the IV part of the Chronicle of Ancient Russian Literature by N. S. Tikhonravov);
- epics printed by E. V. Barsov in the Olonets Provincial Vedomosti after Rybnikov,
- and finally at Efimenko in 5 books. "Proceedings of the Ethnographic Department of the Moscow Society of Natural Science Lovers", 1878.
Research
A number of works devoted to the study of epics:
- article by Konstantin Aksakov: “On the heroes of Vladimirov” (“Works”, vol. I).
- Fyodor Buslaev, "Russian heroic epic" ("Russian Messenger", 1862);
- Leonid Maikova, "On the Epics of the Vladimir Cycle" (St. Petersburg, 1863);
- Vladimir Stasov, “The Origin of Russian Epics” (“Bulletin of Europe”, 1868; moreover, compare the criticism of Hilferding, Buslaev, V. Miller in “Conversations of the Society of Amateurs Russian literature", book. 3; Veselovsky, Kotlyarevsky and Rozov in the Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy, 1871; finally, Stasov's answer: "Criticism of my critics");
- Orest Miller, “The experience of a historical review of Russian folk literature” (St. Petersburg, 1865) and “Ilya Muromets and the heroism of Kiev” (St. Petersburg, 1869, criticism of Buslaev in the “XIV award of the Uvarov awards” and the “Journal of the Ministry of Public Education”, 1871);
- K. D. Kvashnina-Samarina, “On Russian epics in historical and geographical terms” (“Conversation”, 1872);
- his own, "New sources for the study of the Russian epic" ("Russian Bulletin", 1874);
- Yagich, an article in "Archiv für Slav. Phil.";
- M. Carriera, "Die Kunst im Zusammenhange der Culturentwickelung und die Ideale der Menschheit" (second part, translated by E. Korshem);
- Rambaud, "La Russie épique" (1876);
- Wolner, "Untersuchungen über die Volksepik der Grossrussen" (Leipzig, 1879);
Bylina is a folklore-epic song written in tonic verse. Each work consists of a verse, a beginning and an ending. The first part of the epic was rarely associated with the main plot, mostly the introduction was written to attract attention. The beginning is the main event to which the epic is dedicated. The ending is the last part of the epic, in which, as a rule, there is a solemn feast, dedicated to victory over the enemies.
There are several types of melodies of epics - strict, stately, fast, cheerful, calm and even buffoonish.
Each legend was distinguished by a patriotic character, its plots were always laudatory and told about the invincibility of Rus', the virtues of the prince and brave defenders who immediately came to the rescue if trouble threatened the population. The term "epic" itself began to be used only from the 1830s, it was introduced by the scientist Ivan Sakharov. The real name of the songs about heroes is “old times”.
The main characters in were mighty heroes. The characters were endowed with superhuman strength, courage and courage. The hero, even alone, could cope with anyone. The main task of these characters is to protect Rus' from the encroachments of enemies.
Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich and Dobrynya Nikitich and Vladimir the Red Sun - these can be found in almost every legend. Prince Vladimir was the ruler of the Russian lands, and the heroes were the hope and protection of the Russian people.
Authors of epics
Many facts concerning the authors of epics, the time and territory of their writing remain a mystery until our days. Most researchers have come to the conclusion that the most ancient legends were written no more than three hundred years ago. On Wikipedia, for example, you can explore several different theories and facts that scientists have identified.
The prevailing number of epics was recorded by scholar-collectors from the words of the inhabitants of certain areas. In total, there are about forty plots of legends, but the number of texts already reaches one and a half thousand copies. Each epic is special value for Russian culture, folk, as well as for folklorists.
Humans could be narrators different professions, so in the texts they mentioned comparisons that were more understandable and close to them. According to the narrator-tailor, for example, a severed head was compared to a button.
Epics were not written by one author. These are the legends that the Russian people made up, and the lyrics were passed down from generation to generation. Songs were performed certain people who were called "narrators". This one had special qualities. The fact is that epics were never memorized by narrators, so the narrator had to independently connect plots, select comparisons, memorize important facts and be able to retell them without distorting the meaning.
To the question what are the epics asked by the author European the best answer is Epics can be divided into three categories:
1) songs with obviously borrowed biblical content;
2) songs with originally borrowed content, which, however, is processed more independently
3) for songs that are quite folk, but contain episodes, appeals, phrases, names borrowed from the Christian world.
Answer from Sailor[guru]
Answer from Vadim Zverev[newbie]
Household and heroic
Answer from Realize[newbie]
Were? We (old) - heroic-patriotic songs-tales, telling about the exploits of the heroes and reflecting life Ancient Rus' IX-XIII centuries [source not specified 240 days]; kind of oral folk art, which is inherent in the song-epic way of reflecting reality. The main plot of the epic is some heroic event, or a remarkable episode of Russian history (hence vernacular name epics - "old", "old", implying that the action in question took place in the past).
Epics, as a rule, are written in tonic verse with two to four stresses.
Answer from Elena pochkutova[newbie]
epics come from songs.
Answer from tvpt chptcha[newbie]
ah epics epics
Answer from Yaroslav Trubin[newbie]
domestic and heroic
Answer from Andrey Galkin[newbie]
domestic and heroic
Answer from Pichugin Diman[active]
household and Greek
Answer from Nikita Novikov[newbie]
domestic and heroic
Answer from Yoemyon Turushkov[newbie]
folk
Answer from -=d?_KoTe_Under_nArKoTe_?d=-[newbie]
There are epics - yeast early ripening corn oat rye household and heroic
Answer from Elena Pronyaeva[newbie]
folk household
Answer from Vasya Myalovsky[newbie]
BYLINA is a folklore epic song, a genre characteristic of the Russian tradition. The basis of the epic plot is some heroic event, or a remarkable episode of Russian history (hence the popular name of the epic - "old", "old woman", implying that the action about which in question, took place in the past). The term "epic" was introduced into scientific use in the 40s of the 19th century. folklorist I. P. Sakharov (1807–1863).
The number of epic plots, despite the many recorded versions of the same epic, is very limited: there are about 100 of them. There are epics based on matchmaking or the hero’s struggle for his wife (Sadko, Mikhailo Potyk, Ivan Godinovich, Danube, Kozarin, Nightingale Budimirovich and later - Alyosha Popovich and Elena Petrovichna, Khoten Bludovich); fight against monsters (Dobrynya and the snake, Alyosha and Tugarin, Ilya and Idolishche, Ilya and the Nightingale the Robber); the fight against foreign invaders, including: repelling Tatar raids (Ilya's quarrel with Vladimir, Ilya and Kalin, Dobrynya and Vasily Kazemirovich), wars with Lithuanians (Epic about the arrival of Lithuanians).
Satirical epics or epics-parodies stand apart (Dyuk Stepanovich, Competition with Churila).
Answer from Aigel[newbie]
WHAT IS THE EPIC WHICH WAS COMPOSED BY THE WRITER AND THE PEOPLE????
Answer from ALEXEY SEMYONOV[active]
BYLINA is a folklore epic song, a genre characteristic of the Russian tradition. The basis of the plot of the epic is some heroic event, or a remarkable episode of Russian history (hence the popular name of the epic - “old”, “old”, implying that the action in question took place in the past). The term "epic" was introduced into scientific use in the 40s of the 19th century. folklorist I. P. Sakharov (1807–1863).
The number of epic plots, despite the many recorded versions of the same epic, is very limited: there are about 100 of them. There are epics based on matchmaking or the hero’s struggle for his wife (Sadko, Mikhailo Potyk, Ivan Godinovich, Danube, Kozarin, Nightingale Budimirovich and later - Alyosha Popovich and Elena Petrovichna, Khoten Bludovich); fight against monsters (Dobrynya and the snake, Alyosha and Tugarin, Ilya and Idolishche, Ilya and the Nightingale the Robber); the fight against foreign invaders, including: repelling Tatar raids (Ilya's quarrel with Vladimir, Ilya and Kalin, Dobrynya and Vasily Kazemirovich), wars with Lithuanians (Epic about the arrival of Lithuanians).
Satirical epics or epics-parodies stand apart (Dyuk Stepanovich, Competition with Churila).
Bylina is folklore epic song about a heroic event or a remarkable episode of ancient Russian history. In its original form, epics arose in Kievan Rus, formed on the basis of archaic epic tradition and having inherited from it many mythological features; however, fantasy turned out to be subordinated to the historicism of vision and reflection of reality. From the point of view of the people the meaning of the epic was to preserve historical memory , so their validity was not questioned. Epics are close fairy tales about the rich. They artistically summarized the historical reality of the 11th-16th centuries and existed until the middle of the 20th century, corresponding to the epic creativity of many peoples of Europe and Asia. The people called them "old men", i.e. songs about real events of the distant past. The term "epic" (scientific) was introduced in the 1840s on the basis of the "epics of this time" mentioned in the Tale of Igor's Campaign.
In the middle of the 18th century, a handwritten collection of epics and historical songs was created in the Urals, later called "Ancient Russian Poems Collected by Kirshe Danilov". In the 1830s and 1840s, P.V. Kireevsky headed the collection of Russian songs; later, as part of the multi-volume edition “Songs collected by P.V. Kireevsky”, the so-called “old series” was published, which included epics and historical songs. In the middle of the 19th century, P.N. Rybnikov discovered in the Olonets region an actively existing living epic tradition (“Songs collected by P.N. Rybnikov”. M., 1861-67). The performers of epics and other epic songs were called "narrators". In the second half of the 19th and in the 20th century, a lot of work was carried out in the Russian North to identify and record epics, as a result of which a number of scientific publications: A.F. Gilferding, A. Markov, A. D. Grigoriev, N. Onuchkov, A. M. Astakhova and others.
Epics and realities
Epics reflected many historical realities. Northern singers conveyed the geography and landscape of Kievan Rus, which were not familiar to them (“open field”), depicted the struggle ancient Russian state against the steppe nomads. Individual details of the military princely retinue life were preserved with amazing accuracy. The storytellers did not seek to convey the chronicle sequence of history, but depicted it highlights, embodied in the central episodes of epics. Researchers note their multi-layered nature: they reported the names of real-life persons: Vladimir Svyatoslavovich and Vladimir Monomakh, Dobrynya, Sadko, Alexander (Alyosha) Popovich, Ilya Muromets, Polovtsian and Tatar khans (Tushrkan, Batu). However fiction allowed to attribute epics to an earlier or later historical time, allowed the combination of names. In the people's memory there was a distortion of geographical distances, names of countries and cities. The idea of the Tatars as the main enemy of Rus' supplanted the references to the Polovtsy and Pechenegs.
The heyday of epics
The heyday of the epics early Vladimirov cycle took place in Kyiv in the 11th-12th centuries, and after the weakening of Kyiv (from the second half of the 12th century), they moved west and north, to the Novgorod region. The folk epic that has come down to us allows us to judge only the content of the ancient songs of Kievan Rus, but not their form. The epic was adopted by buffoons, who had a significant influence on him: in the epics, a number of scenes represent buffoons-singers at Prince Vladimir's feasts, there are actually buffoons bylinas ("Vavilo and buffoons"). In the 16-17 centuries, the content of the epics reflected the life of the upper classes of Moscow Rus', as well as the Cossacks (Ilya Muromets is called the "old Cossack").
Science knows about 100 plots of epics (in total, more than 3,000 texts have been recorded with variants and versions, a significant part of which has been published). Due to objective historical reasons the Russian epic did not develop into an epic: the struggle against the nomads ended at a time when living conditions could no longer contribute to the creation of an integral epic. The plots of the epics remained scattered, but they tend to cycle through the scene (Kyiv, Novgorod) and heroes (for example, the epic about Ilya Muromets). Representatives of the mythological school singled out epics about senior heroes, in the images of which were reflected mythological elements(Volkh, Svyatogor, Sukhmanty, Danube, Potyk), and about younger heroes, in whose images the mythological traces are insignificant, but historical features are expressed (Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich, Vasily Buslaev). Chapter historical school V.F. Miller divided epics into two types:
- Heroic
- novelistic
For the first, he considered the characteristic heroic struggle of the heroes and her state goals, for the second - internal clashes, social or domestic. modern science, introducing epics into the international context of epic creativity, groups them into the following plot-thematic sections:
- About senior heroes
- About fighting monsters
- On the fight against foreign enemies
- About meetings and saving relatives
- About the epic matchmaking and the struggle of the hero for his wife
- About epic competitions.
- A special group is made up of epics-parodies.
Poetic language of epics
Poetic language epics are subordinated to the task of depicting the grandiose and significant. They were performed without musical accompaniment, recitative. Their melodies are solemn, but monotonous (each narrator knew no more than two or three melodies and diversified them due to the vibration of his voice). It is assumed that in ancient times epics were sung to the accompaniment of the psaltery. The verse of epics is associated with melody and refers to tonic versification, (see). The compositional basis of the plots of many epics is made up of antithesis and tripling. In the repertoire of buffoons, stylistic formulas for the external ornamentation of the plot arose: verses and outcomes (independent small works not related to the main content of epics). The tradition of epic storytelling developed formulas for the usual image - loci communes (lat. "common places"), which were used when repeating situations of the same type: a feast at Prince Vladimir, saddling a horse, a heroic ride on a horse, a hero's massacre of enemies, etc. Narration in epics was conducted leisurely, majestic. In the development of the plot, there were necessarily numerous repetitions. Slowness of action (retardation) was achieved by tripling episodes, repetition common places, speech of the hero. The poetic style was created by the repetition of words that could be tautological (“black-black”, “many-many”) or synonymous (“villain-robber”, “fight-to fight”).
One of the techniques for connecting strings is palology (repetition last words previous line at the beginning of the next). It was not uncommon for adjacent lines to use syntactic parallelism. In epics, monophony (anaphora) could appear, and at the ends of lines sometimes there were consonances of homogeneous words, reminiscent of rhyme. There were alliterations and assonances. The broad typification of the characters of the epics did not exclude elements of individualization, which Hilferding noted back in 1871: Prince Vladimir is a complacent and personally completely powerless ruler; Ilya Muromets - a calm and self-confident force; Dobrynya is the personification of politeness and graceful nobility; Vasily Ignatievich is a drunkard who sobers up in a moment of trouble and becomes a hero. One of the principles of epic typification is the synecdoche: epics depicted not the entire ancient Russian squad, but individual warriors-heroes defeating hordes of enemies; the enemy force could also be depicted in single images (Tugarin Zmeevich, Idolishche). Main artistic technique- hyperbole. The collectors testified that the singers perceived hyperbole as a reliable representation of real qualities in their maximum manifestation.
Plots, images, poetics of epics were reflected in Russian literature (“Ruslan and Lyudmila”, 1820, A.S. Pushkin, “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilievich ...”, 1838, M.Yu. “Lermontova”, “Who should live in Rus' good”, 1863-77, N.A. Nekrasova, “ folk stories» L.N. Tolstoy). Epics were a source of inspiration for artists, composers, filmmakers.
