What is the specificity of ancient Russian literature. Specific Features of Old Russian Literature

Over the course of seven centuries of development, our literature consistently reflected the main changes that took place in the life of society.

For a long time, artistic thinking was inextricably linked with the religious and medieval historical form of consciousness, but gradually, with the development of national and class self-consciousness, it begins to free itself from church ties.

Literature has worked out clear and definite ideals of the spiritual beauty of a person who gives himself entirely to the common good, the good of the Russian land, the Russian state.

She created the ideal characters of staunch Christian ascetics, valiant and courageous rulers, “good sufferers for the Russian land.” These literary characters complemented the folk ideal of man, which had developed in epic oral poetry.

D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak spoke very well about the close connection between these two ideals in a letter to Ya. And here and there representatives of their native land, behind them one can see that Rus', on whose guard they stood. Among the heroes, the predominant element is physical strength: they defend their homeland with a broad chest, and that is why this “heroic outpost” is so good, advanced to the battle line, in front of which historical predators roamed ... “Saints” represent the other side of Russian history, even more important as a moral stronghold and the holy of holies of the future multi-million people. These chosen ones had a premonition of the history of a great nation...”

The focus of literature was the historical fate of the motherland, issues of state building. That is why epic historical themes and genres play a leading role in it.

Deep historicism in the medieval sense determined the connection of our ancient literature with the heroic folk epic, and also determined the features of the depiction of human character.

Old Russian writers gradually mastered the art of creating deep and versatile characters, the ability to correctly explain the causes of human behavior.

From a static still image of a person, our writers went to the disclosure of the inner dynamics of feelings, to the image of various psychological states of a person, to the identification of individual personality traits.

The latter was most clearly marked in the 17th century, when the personality and literature began to be freed from the undivided power of the church, and in connection with the general process of “secularization of culture”, a “secularization” of literature also took place.

It led not only to the creation of fictional heroes, generalized and, to a certain extent, socially individualized characters.

This process led to the emergence of new types of literature - drama and lyrics, new genres - everyday, satirical, adventurous and adventure stories.

The strengthening of the role of folklore in the development of literature contributed to its democratization and closer rapprochement with life. This affected the language of literature: the Old Slavonic literary language, which had become obsolete by the end of the 17th century, was replaced by a new living spoken language, which flooded into the literature of the second half of the 17th century in a wide stream.

A characteristic feature of ancient literature is its inseparable connection with reality.

This connection gave our literature an extraordinary journalistic sharpness, an agitated lyrical emotional pathos, which made it an important means of political education of contemporaries and which gives it the enduring significance that it has in the subsequent centuries of the development of the Russian nation, Russian culture.

Kuskov V.V. History of ancient Russian literature. - M., 1998

The literature of Ancient Rus' arose in the 11th century. and developed over the course of seven centuries until the Petrine era. Old Russian literature is a single entity with all the variety of genres, themes, and images. This literature is the focus of Russian spirituality and patriotism. On the pages of these works, there are conversations about the most important philosophical, moral problems that heroes of all centuries think about, talk about, meditate on. The works form love for the Fatherland and their people, show the beauty of the Russian land, therefore these works touch the innermost strings of our hearts.

The significance of Old Russian literature as the basis for the development of new Russian literature is very great. So the images, ideas, even the style of compositions were inherited by A. S. Pushkin, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy.

Old Russian literature did not arise from scratch. Its appearance was prepared by the development of the language, oral folk art, cultural ties with Byzantium and Bulgaria, and was conditioned by the adoption of Christianity as a single religion. The first literary works that appeared in Rus' were translated. Those books that were necessary for worship were translated.

The very first original works, that is, written by the Eastern Slavs themselves, belong to the end of the 11th-beginning of the 12th century. V. There was a formation of Russian national literature, its traditions were formed, features that determine its specific features, a certain dissimilarity with the literature of our days.

The purpose of this work is to show the features of ancient Russian literature and its main genres.

II. Features of ancient Russian literature.

2. 1. Historicism of content.

Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's fiction. The authors of works of art, even if they describe the true events of real people, conjecture a lot. But in ancient Rus', everything was completely different. The Old Russian scribe told only about what, according to his ideas, really happened. Only in the XVII century. Everyday stories appeared in Rus' with fictional characters and plots.

Both the ancient Russian scribe and his readers firmly believed that the events described actually happened. So the chronicles were a kind of legal document for the people of Ancient Rus'. After the death in 1425 of the Moscow prince Vasily Dmitrievich, his younger brother Yuri Dmitrievich and son Vasily Vasilyevich began to argue about their rights to the throne. Both princes turned to the Tatar Khan to judge their dispute. At the same time, Yuri Dmitrievich, defending his rights to reign in Moscow, referred to ancient chronicles, which reported that power had previously passed from the prince-father not to his son, but to his brother.

2. 2. Manuscript nature of existence.

Another feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of existence. Even the appearance of the printing press in Rus' did little to change the situation until the middle of the 18th century. The existence of literary monuments in manuscripts led to a special reverence for the book. What even separate treatises and instructions were written about. But on the other hand, handwritten existence led to the instability of ancient Russian works of literature. Those writings that have come down to us are the result of the work of many, many people: the author, editor, copyist, and the work itself could continue for several centuries. Therefore, in scientific terminology, there are such concepts as "manuscript" (handwritten text) and "list" (rewritten work). A manuscript may contain lists of various works and may be written by the author himself or by scribes. Another fundamental concept in textual criticism is the term "edition", i.e. purposeful processing of the monument, caused by social and political events, changes in the function of the text or differences in the language of the author and editor.

The existence of a work in manuscripts is closely related to such a specific feature of Old Russian literature as the problem of authorship.

The authorial principle in ancient Russian literature is muted, implicit; Old Russian scribes were not careful with other people's texts. When rewriting the texts, they were reworked: some phrases or episodes were excluded from them or some episodes were inserted into them, stylistic “decorations” were added. Sometimes the ideas and assessments of the author were even replaced by the opposite ones. Lists of one work differed significantly from each other.

Old Russian scribes did not at all seek to reveal their involvement in literary writing. Very many monuments remained anonymous, the authorship of others was established by researchers on indirect grounds. So it is impossible to attribute to someone else the writings of Epiphanius the Wise, with his sophisticated "weaving of words." The style of Ivan the Terrible's epistles is inimitable, impudently mixing eloquence and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of a simple conversation.

It happens that in the manuscript one or another text was signed by the name of an authoritative scribe, which may equally correspond or not correspond to reality. So among the works attributed to the famous preacher St. Cyril of Turov, many, apparently, do not belong to him: the name of Cyril of Turov gave additional authority to these works.

The anonymity of literary monuments is also due to the fact that the Old Russian “writer” deliberately did not try to be original, but tried to show himself as traditional as possible, that is, to comply with all the rules and regulations of the established canon.

2. 4. Literary etiquette.

A well-known literary critic, researcher of ancient Russian literature, academician D.S. Likhachev proposed a special term for designating the canon in the monuments of medieval Russian literature - “literary etiquette”.

Literary etiquette is composed of:

From the idea of ​​how this or that course of an event should have taken place;

From ideas about how the actor should have behaved in accordance with his position;

From the ideas of what words the writer had to describe what is happening.

Before us is the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior and verbal etiquette. The hero is supposed to behave in this way, and the author is supposed to describe the hero only in appropriate terms.

III. The main genres of ancient Russian literature.

The literature of modern times is subject to the laws of the "poetics of the genre". It was this category that began to dictate the ways of creating a new text. But in ancient Russian literature, the genre did not play such an important role.

A sufficient number of studies have been devoted to the genre originality of Old Russian literature, but there is still no clear classification of genres. However, some genres immediately stood out in ancient Russian literature.

3. 1. Hagiographic genre.

Life is a description of the life of a saint.

Russian hagiographic literature includes hundreds of works, the first of which were written already in the 11th century. Life, which came to Rus' from Byzantium along with the adoption of Christianity, became the main genre of ancient Russian literature, the literary form in which the spiritual ideals of Ancient Rus' were clothed.

The compositional and verbal forms of life have been polished for centuries. A lofty theme - a story about a life that embodies the ideal service to the world and God - determines the image of the author and the style of narration. The author of the life narrates with excitement, he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic, admiration for his righteous life. The emotionality of the author, his excitement paint the whole story in lyrical tones and contribute to the creation of a solemn mood. This atmosphere is also created by the style of narration - high solemn, full of quotations from the Holy Scriptures.

When writing a life, the hagiographer (the author of the life) had to follow a number of rules and canons. The composition of the correct life should be three-part: an introduction, a story about the life and deeds of a saint from birth to death, praise. In the introduction, the author apologizes to the readers for their inability to write, for the rudeness of the narration, etc. The life itself followed the introduction. It cannot be called a “biography” of a saint in the full sense of the word. The author of the life selects from his life only those facts that do not contradict the ideals of holiness. The story about the life of a saint is freed from everything everyday, concrete, random. In a life compiled according to all the rules, there are few dates, exact geographical names, names of historical persons. The action of life takes place, as it were, outside historical time and concrete space, it unfolds against the backdrop of eternity. Abstraction is one of the features of hagiographic style.

At the conclusion of the life there should be praise to the saint. This is one of the most important parts of life, requiring great literary art, a good knowledge of rhetoric.

The oldest Russian hagiographic monuments are two lives of princes Boris and Gleb and The Life of Theodosius of Pechora.

3. 2. Eloquence.

Eloquence is an area of ​​creativity characteristic of the most ancient period in the development of our literature. Monuments of church and secular eloquence are divided into two types: instructive and solemn.

Solemn eloquence required depth of conception and great literary skill. The orator needed the ability to effectively build a speech in order to capture the listener, set it up in a high way, corresponding to the topic, shake him with pathos. There was a special term for solemn speech - "word". (There was no terminological unity in ancient Russian literature. A military story could also be called a "Word".) Speeches were not only delivered, but written and distributed in numerous copies.

Solemn eloquence did not pursue narrowly practical goals, it required the formulation of problems of a wide social, philosophical and theological scope. The main reasons for the creation of "words" are theological issues, issues of war and peace, defense of the borders of the Russian land, domestic and foreign policy, the struggle for cultural and political independence.

The oldest monument of solemn eloquence is Metropolitan Hilarion's Sermon on Law and Grace, written between 1037 and 1050.

Teaching eloquence is teachings and conversations. They are usually small in volume, often devoid of rhetorical embellishments, written in the Old Russian language, which was generally accessible to the people of that time. Teachings could be given by church leaders, princes.

Teachings and conversations have purely practical purposes, they contain the information necessary for a person. "Instruction to the brethren" by Luka Zhidyata, Bishop of Novgorod from 1036 to 1059, contains a list of rules of conduct that a Christian should adhere to: do not take revenge, do not say "shameful" words. Go to church and behave in it quietly, honor elders, judge by the truth, honor your prince, do not curse, keep all the commandments of the Gospel.

Theodosius of Pechersk, founder of the Kiev Caves Monastery. He owns eight teachings to the brethren, in which Theodosius reminds the monks of the rules of monastic behavior: do not be late for church, make three bows to the earth, observe deanery and order when singing prayers and psalms, and bow to each other when meeting. In his teachings, Theodosius of Pechorsky demands a complete renunciation of the world, abstinence, constant prayer and vigil. The abbot severely denounces idleness, money-grubbing, intemperance in food.

3. 3. Chronicle.

Chronicles were called weather records (according to "years" - according to "years"). The annual entry began with the words: "In the summer." After that, there was a story about events and incidents that, from the point of view of the chronicler, were worthy of the attention of posterity. These could be military campaigns, raids by steppe nomads, natural disasters: droughts, crop failures, etc., as well as simply unusual incidents.

It is thanks to the work of chroniclers that modern historians have an amazing opportunity to look into the distant past.

Most often, the ancient Russian chronicler was a learned monk, who sometimes spent many years compiling the chronicle. In those days, it was customary to start a story about history from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had first of all to find, put in order, and often rewrite the work of his predecessors. If the compiler of the chronicle had at his disposal not one, but several chronicle texts at once, then he had to “reduce” them, that is, combine them, choosing from each one that he considered necessary to include in his own work. When the materials relating to the past were collected, the chronicler proceeded to present the incidents of his time. The result of this great work was the annalistic code. After some time, this code was continued by other chroniclers.

Apparently, the first major monument of ancient Russian chronicle writing was the annalistic code, compiled in the 70s of the 11th century. The compiler of this code is believed to have been the abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery Nikon the Great (? - 1088).

Nikon's work formed the basis of another annalistic code, which was compiled in the same monastery two decades later. In the scientific literature, he received the conditional name "Initial Code". Its unnamed compiler supplemented Nikon's collection not only with news of recent years, but also with chronicle information from other Russian cities.

"The Tale of Bygone Years"

Based on the annals of the tradition of the 11th century. The greatest annalistic monument of the era of Kievan Rus - "The Tale of Bygone Years" was born.

It was compiled in Kyiv in the 10s. 12th c. According to some historians, its likely compiler was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor, also known for his other writings. When creating The Tale of Bygone Years, its compiler drew on numerous materials with which he supplemented the Initial Code. Among these materials were Byzantine chronicles, texts of treaties between Rus' and Byzantium, monuments of translated and ancient Russian literature, and oral traditions.

The compiler of The Tale of Bygone Years set as his goal not only to tell about the past of Rus', but also to determine the place of the Eastern Slavs among European and Asian peoples.

The chronicler tells in detail about the settlement of the Slavic peoples in antiquity, about the settlement by the Eastern Slavs of the territories that would later become part of the Old Russian state, about the customs and customs of different tribes. The "Tale of Bygone Years" emphasizes not only the antiquities of the Slavic peoples, but also the unity of their culture, language and writing, created in the 9th century. brothers Cyril and Methodius.

The chronicler considers the adoption of Christianity to be the most important event in the history of Rus'. The story about the first Russian Christians, about the baptism of Rus', about the spread of a new faith, the construction of churches, the emergence of monasticism, the success of Christian enlightenment occupies a central place in the Tale.

The wealth of historical and political ideas reflected in The Tale of Bygone Years suggests that its compiler was not just an editor, but also a talented historian, a deep thinker, and a bright publicist. Many chroniclers of subsequent centuries turned to the experience of the creator of the "Tale", sought to imitate him and almost always placed the text of the monument at the beginning of each new chronicle collection.

Old Russian(or Russian medieval, or ancient East Slavic) Literature is a collection of written works, written on the territory of Kievan, and then Muscovite Rus' in the period from the 11th to the 17th centuries. Old Russian literature is common ancient literature of the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples.

Map of Ancient Rus'
the largest researchers of ancient Russian literature are academicians Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, Boris Alexandrovich Rybakov, Alexei Alexandrovich Shakhmatov.

Academician D.S. Likhachev
Old Russian literature was not the result of fiction and had a number of features .
1. Fiction in ancient Russian literature was not allowed, since fiction is a lie, and a lie is sinful. That's why all works were religious or historical in nature. The right to fiction was comprehended only in the 17th century.
2. Due to the lack of fiction in ancient Russian literature there was no concept of authorship, since the works either reflected real historical events, or were a presentation of Christian books. Therefore, the works of ancient Russian literature have a compiler, a copyist, but not an author.
3. Works of ancient Russian literature were created in accordance with etiquette, that is, according to certain rules. Etiquette consisted of ideas about how the course of events should unfold, how the hero should behave, how the compiler of the work is obliged to describe what is happening.
4. Old Russian literature developed very slowly: for seven centuries, only a few dozen works were created. This was explained, firstly, by the fact that the works were copied by hand, and the books were not replicated, since there was no printing in Rus' until 1564; secondly, the number of literate (reading) people was very small.

Genres Old Russian literature differed from modern ones.

Question #1

The main features of ancient Russian literature.

Old Russian literature - 10th - 12th century

Peculiarities:

1. handwritten character. There were not individual handwritten works, but collections with specific goals.

2. Anonymity. This was a consequence of the attitude of society towards the work of the writer. Rarely are the names of individual authors known. In the work, the name is indicated at the end, title and in the margins with evaluative epithets "thin" and "unworthy". Medieval authors did not have the concept of "authorship". The main task: to convey the truth.

Anonymity types:

3. religious character. Everything is explained by God's will, will and providence.

4. Historicism. The author has the right to write only historically reliable facts. Fiction is excluded. The author is convinced of the authenticity of the stated. Heroes are historical figures: princes, rulers, standing at the top of the hierarchical ladder of feudal society. Even stories about miracles are not so much the fiction of the author as accurate records of the stories of eyewitnesses or the participants themselves.

5. Patriotism. The works are filled with deep content, heroic pathos of service to the Russian land, state, homeland.

6. The main theme of Old Russian literature- world history and the meaning of human life.

7. Ancient Literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian man, capable of sacrificing the most precious thing - life for the common good. It expresses a deep belief in strength, the ultimate triumph of good, and the ability of man to elevate his spirit and conquer evil.

8. A feature of the artistic creativity of the ancient Russian writer is the so-called "literary etiquette". This is a special literary and aesthetic regulation, the desire to subordinate the very image of the world to certain principles and rules, to establish once and for all what should be depicted and how.

9. Old Russian literature appears with the emergence of the state, writing and is based on Christian book culture and developed forms of oral poetry. At this time, literature and folklore were closely connected. Literature often perceived plots, artistic images, visual means of folk art.

10. The traditions of Old Russian literature are found in the work of Russian writers of the 18th-20th centuries.

The word is imbued patriotic pathos of the glorification of Rus', as equal among all states of the world. The author contrasts the Byzantine theory of the universal empire and the church with the idea of ​​equality of all Christian peoples. Shows the superiority of grace over law. The law was distributed only among the Jews, but grace among all peoples. As a result, the new covenant is a Christian doctrine that has worldwide significance and where every nation has the full right to freely choose this grace. Thus, Hilarion rejects Byzantium's monopoly rights to the exclusive possession of grace. According to Likhachev, the author creates his own patriotic concept of history, where he glorifies Rus' and the Enlightener Vladimir. Hilarion exalts the feat of Vladimir in the adoption and spread of Christianity. He lists the merits of the prince to the homeland, emphasizes that the Christian faith was adopted by the Russians as a result of free choice. The work put forward demand for the canonization of Vladimir as a saint, also the author glorifies the activities of Yaroslav, who successfully continued his father's work of spreading Christianity. The product is very logical. The first part is a kind of introduction to the second - the central one. The first part is a comparison of Law and Grace, the second is a praise to Vladimir, the third is a prayer appeal to God. The first part follows sign of antithesis- a typical method of oratorical eloquence. Illarion widely uses book metaphors, rhetorical questions, exclamations, repetitions and verbal rhymes. The word is a model for scribes of the 12th-15th centuries.

Question #10

Journey of Abbot Daniel

As early as the 11th century, Russian people began to travel to the Christian East, to "holy places". These pilgrimages (a traveler who visited Palestine brought a palm branch with him; pilgrims were also called kaliks - from the Greek name for shoes - kaliga put on by a traveler) contributed to the expansion and strengthening of international relations of Kievan Rus, contributed to the development of national identity.

So, at the beginning of the 12th century. arises "The Journey of Abbot Daniel. Daniel committed pilgrimage to Palestine in 1106-1108 Daniel undertook a long journey, “needed by his thought and impatience”, desiring to see "the holy city of Jerusalem and the promised land", and "for the sake of love for the sake of the holy places, I wrote down everything that I saw with my eyes." His work is written "for the faithful for the sake of people", so that when they hear about "these holy places," rushed to these places with thought and soul and those thus they received “an equal reward from God” with those who “reached these holy places.” Thus, Daniel attached to his "Journey" not only cognitive, but also moral, educational meaning: his readers - listeners must mentally go through the same journey and receive the same benefit for the soul as the traveler himself.

Daniel's "Walk" is of great interest because of the detailed description of the "holy places" and the personality of the author himself, although it begins with etiquette self-abasement.

Talking about the hard journey Daniel notes how difficult it is to "explore and see all the holy places" without a good "leader" and without knowledge of the language. At first, Daniel was forced to give from his "bad booty" to people who know those places, so that they show them to him. However, he was soon lucky: he found in the monastery of St. Savva, where he stayed, an old husband, “book velmi”, who introduced the Russian hegumen to all the sights of Jerusalem and its environs.

Daniel reveals great curiosity: he is interested nature, city planning and the character of the buildings of Jerusalem, irrigation system near Jericho. Some interesting information Daniel tells about the Jordan River, which has gentle shores on one side, and steep ones on the other, and in every way resembles the Russian river Snov. Daniel strives to convey to his readers the feelings that every Christian experiences when approaching Jerusalem: these are feelings of “great joy” and “shedding tears.” The abbot describes in detail the way to the city gates past the pillar of David, the architecture and size of the temples. A large place in the Journey is occupied by legends that Daniel either heard during his journey or read in written sources. He easily combines canonical scripture and apocrypha in his mind. Although Daniel's attention is absorbed by religious issues, this does not prevent him from realizing himself as the plenipotentiary representative of the Russian land in Palestine. He proudly reports that he, the Russian hegumen, was honorably received by King Baldwin (Jerusalem was captured by the crusaders during Daniel's stay in it). He prayed at the Holy Sepulcher for the whole Russian land. And when the lampada, set by Daniel on behalf of the entire Russian land, was lit, but the “flask” (Roman) lamp was not lit, he sees in this a manifestation of God’s special mercy and goodwill towards the Russian land.

Question #12

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign"

"The Lay of Igor's Campaign" was found in the early 90s of the 18th century by the famous lover and collector of Russian antiquities A.I. Musin-Pushkin.

"The Word" is the pinnacle of literature created during the period of feudal fragmentation.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is dedicated to the unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsians in 1185 by Prince Igor Svyatoslavich of Novgorod-Seversky with a few allies, a campaign that ended in a terrible defeat. Author calls on the Russian princes to unite to repulse the steppe, to defend the Russian land by joint efforts.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" with brilliant power and penetration reflected in itself the main disaster of its time - the insufficiency of the state unity of Rus' and, as a result, the weakness of its defense against the onslaught of the steppe nomadic peoples, who in quick raids ravaged the old Russian cities, devastated villages, drove the population into slavery, penetrated into the very depths of the country, everywhere bringing death and destruction with them.

The all-Russian power of the Kyiv prince had not yet completely disappeared, but its significance was falling irresistibly. . The princes were no longer afraid of the Kyiv prince and sought to capture Kyiv, to increase their possessions and use the dying authority of Kyiv in their own interests.

In the Lay, there is no systematic account of Igor's campaign. Igor's campaign against the Polovtsians and the defeat of his troops is for the author an occasion for deep reflection on the fate of the Russian land, for a passionate call to unite and defend Rus'. This idea - the unity of Russians against common enemies - is the main idea of ​​the work. The ardent patriot, the author of the Lay, sees the reason for Igor's unsuccessful campaign not in the weakness of the Russian soldiers, but in the princes, who are not united, act separately and ruin their native land, and forget all-Russian interests.

The author begins his story with a recollection of how disturbing the beginning of Igor's campaign was, what ominous signs - an eclipse of the sun, howling wolves in ravines, barking foxes - he was accompanied by. Nature itself, as it were, wanted to stop Igor, not to let him go further.

The defeat of Igor and its terrible consequences for the entire Russian land, as it were, make the author recall that not long ago the Kiev prince Svyatoslav, with the combined forces of the Russian princes, defeated these very Polovtsians. He mentally transferred to Kyiv, to the tower of Svyatoslav, who has an ominous and incomprehensible dream. The boyars explain to Svyatoslav that this dream is "in the hand": Igor Novgorod-Seversky suffered a terrible defeat.

And so Svyatoslav plunged into bitter thoughts. He pronounces the “golden word”, in which he reproaches Igor and his brother, Vsevolod’s buoy, for the fact that they disobeyed him, did not respect his gray hair, alone, without collusion with him, arrogantly went to the Polovtsy.

Svyatoslav's speech gradually turns into an appeal by the author himself to all the most prominent Russian princes of that time. The author sees them as powerful and glorious.

But now he remembers Igor's young wife, Yaroslavna. He cites the words of her full of longing crying for her husband and for his dead soldiers. Yaroslavna cries on the city wall in Putivl. She turns to the wind, to the Dnieper, to the sun, yearns and begs them for the return of her husband.

As if in response to Yaroslavna's prayer, the sea burst at midnight, tornadoes swirled on the sea: Igor escapes from captivity. The description of Igor's flight is one of the most poetic passages in the Lay.

The “Word” ends happily - with the return of Igor to the Russian land and singing glory to him at the entrance to Kyiv. Despite the fact that the "Word" is dedicated to the defeat of Igor, it is full of confidence in the power of the Russians, full of faith in the glorious future of the Russian land. The call to unity is imbued in the "Word" with the most passionate, strongest and most tender love for the motherland.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" - a work of writing oh.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" became the main phenomenon not only in ancient literature, but also in modern literature - of the 19th and 20th centuries.

"Word" - a direct response to the events of Igor's campaign. It was a call for an end to princely civil strife, for unity in order to fight against an external enemy. This call is the main content of the Word. Using the example of Igor's defeat, the author shows the sad consequences of political fragmentation in Rus', the lack of cohesion between the princes.

The word not only tells about the events of Igor's campaign, and also represents a passionate and excited speech of a true patriot. His speech is sometimes angry, sometimes sad and mournful, but always full of faith in the motherland. The author is proud of his homeland and believes in its bright future.

The author is a supporter of princely power, which would be able to curb the arbitrariness of petty princes . He sees the center of united Rus' in Kyiv.
The author embodies his call for unity in the image of the Motherland, the Russian land. In fact, the main character of the word is not Igor or any other prince. The main character is the Russian people, the Russian land. So, the theme of the Russian land is central in the work.

Using the example of Igor's campaign, the author shows what such disunity among the princes can lead to . After all, Igor is defeated only because he is alone.
Igor - brave, but short-sighted, goes on a hike despite bad omens - a solar eclipse. Although Igor loves his homeland, his main goal is to gain fame.

Talking about female characters, it is important to note that they are saturated with tenderness and affection, the folk principle is clearly expressed in them, they embody sadness and care for the Motherland. Their lamentation has a deeply folk character.

The central lyrical element of the plot is the lamentation of Yaroslavna. Yaroslavna - a collective image of all Russian wives and mothers, as well as the image of the Russian land, which also mourns.

No. 14 Russian pre-revival. Emotionally expressive style. "Zadonshchina"

Russian pre-revival - the middle of the 14th - the beginning of the 15th century!

This is a period of expressive-emotional style and a patriotic upsurge in literature, a period of revival of chronicle writing, historical narrative, panegyric hagiography, reference to the times of independence of Rus' in all areas of culture: in literature, architecture, painting, folklore, political thought, etc.

The Russian Pre-Renaissance of the XIV-XV centuries was the era of the greatest spiritual figures, scribes and painters. The personification of the national spiritual culture of that time was the names of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Stephen of Perm and Kirill Belozersky, Epiphanius the Wise, Theophan the Greek, Andrei Rublev and Dionysius. During the pre-Renaissance period. coincided with the gathering of Russian lands around Moscow, there was an appeal to the spiritual traditions of ancient Kievan Rus, attempts were made to revive them in the new conditions. This, of course, is about the traditions of Russian asceticism. In the era under consideration, these traditions were strengthened, but they acquired a slightly different character. The activities of ascetics during the formation of the Muscovite state in the second half of the 14th century became socially and, to some extent, politically active. This was reflected in the ancient Russian literature of that period. A particularly striking example is the writings of Epiphanius the Wise - the "Life" of Sergius of Radonezh and Stefan of Perm.

There comes a period in Russian history when a person somehow begins to valued as a person, there is a discovery of its historical significance, internal merits. In the literature, more and more attention is paid to the emotional sphere, there is an interest in human psychology. This leads to an expressive style. Dynamism of descriptions.

An emotionally expressive style is developing in literature, and “silence”, “solitary prayer” is becoming increasingly important in ideological life.

Attention to the inner life of a person, demonstrating the fluidity of what is happening, the variability of everything that exists, was associated with the awakening of historical consciousness. Time was no longer represented only in the form of a change of events. The nature of the epochs changed, and first of all, the attitude towards the foreign yoke. The time has come for the idealization of the era of independence of Rus'. Thought turns to the idea of ​​independence, art - to the works of pre-Mongolian Russia, architecture - to the buildings of the era of independence, and literature - to the works of the 11th-13th centuries: to the "Tale of Bygone Years", to Metropolitan Hilarion's "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", to "The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land", to "The Life of Alexander Nevsky", to "The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu", etc. Thus, for the Russian Pre-Revival, Russia of the period of independence, Pre-Mongolian Rus became its "antiquity".

There is a growing interest in the internal states of the human soul, psychological experiences, the dynamics of feelings and emotions. So, Epiphanius the Wise in his works conveys feelings of delight and surprise that overwhelm the soul. Literature and art as a whole embody the ideal of beauty, spiritual harmony, the ideal of a person who devotes himself to serving the idea of ​​the common good.

According to DS Likhachev, “The focus of attention of writers of the late XIV - early XV century. individual psychological states of a person, his feelings, emotional responses to the events of the external world turned out to be. But these feelings, the individual states of the human soul, are not yet united into characters. Separate manifestations of psychology are depicted without any individualization and do not add up to psychology. The binding, unifying principle - the character of a person - has not yet been discovered. The individuality of a person is still limited to a straightforward assignment of it to one of two categories - good or evil, positive or negative.

It is important to note that the emergence of man as a measure of all values ​​in Rus' is only partly. So there is no man - a titan, a man in the center of the universe. So, despite the existence of the period of pre-rebirth, the Renaissance itself does not come!!!

Pushkin's words "The Great Renaissance had no influence on it (Russia)."

"Zadonshchina"

Power book»

Created in 1563 at the initiative of the Metropolitan Macarius by the royal confessor Andrei - Athanasius - "The Power Book of the Royal Genealogy." In the Work, an attempt was made to present the history of the Russian Moscow state in the form of genealogical continuity from Rurik to Ivan the Terrible.
State history presented in the form of hagiobiographies of rulers. Period the reign of each prince is a certain facet in history.
So the book is divided into 17 degrees and facets. Introduction - a lengthy life of Princess Olga. In each facet, after the biography of the author, the most important events are described. In the center of the narrative are the personalities of the autocratic princes. They endowed with the qualities of ideal wise rulers, brave warriors and exemplary Christians. The compilers of the Book of Degrees try to emphasize the greatness of the deeds and the beauty of the virtues of the princes, the psychologist introduces the characteristics of the heroes, trying to show them the world inside and pious stories.
The idea of ​​a monocratic form of government in Rus' is being carried out, power is surrounded by a halo of holiness, the need for uncomplaining obedience to it is proved.

Thus, in the Book of Power, historical material acquired topical political significance, everything is subordinated to the task of the ideological struggle to strengthen the autocratic power of the sovereign in Rus'. The book of degrees, like chronicles, plays the role of an official historical document., based on which Moscow diplomacy conducted negotiations in the international arena, proving the primordial rights of Moscow sovereigns to own Russian territories.

Also an important part of the period of the second monumentalism is the work of Ivan the Terrible and the Tale of Peter and Fevronia.

No. 18 Creativity of Ivan the Terrible

Ivan groznyj was one of the most educated people of their time, had a phenomenal memory and erudition.

He founded the Moscow Printing House, by his order, a unique literary monument was created - the Front Chronicle.
And The works of Ivan the Terrible are the most famous monument of Russian literature of the 16th century. Messages of Tsar Ivan the Terrible - one of the most unusual monuments of ancient Russian literature. The central themes of his messages- international the meaning of the Russian state(the concept of Moscow - the "third Rome") and divine right of the monarch to unlimited power. The themes of the state, ruler, power occupy one of the central places in Shakespeare, but they are expressed by completely different genres and artistic means. The strength of the impact of the messages of Ivan the Terrible - in the system of argumentation, including biblical quotations and extracts from sacred authors; facts from world and Russian history for analogies; examples from personal experience. In polemical and private messages, Grozny much more often uses facts from his personal life. This allows the author, without cluttering up the message with rhetoric, to significantly enliven the style. A fact conveyed briefly and accurately is immediately remembered, gets an emotional coloring, and gives the sharpness necessary for the controversy. The messages of Ivan the Terrible suggest a variety of intonations - ironic, accusatory, satirical, instructive. This is only a special case of the extensive influence on the messages of the living colloquial speech of the 16th century, which is very new in ancient Russian literature.

Creativity of Ivan the Terrible - REALLY GREAT LITERATURE.

Main literary monuments, created by Ivan the Terrible, is the Epistle of the Terrible to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery and the Correspondence with Andrei Kurbsky.

Terrible's message to Kirillo - Belozersky monastery to the abbot of the monastery Kozma. Approximately 1573.

Written about violation of the monastic decree exiled there by the Terrible boyars Sheremetev, Khabarov, Sobakin.

Message permeated with caustic irony turning into sarcasm in relation to the disgraced boyars, who in the monastery "introduced their voluptuous charters." Grozny accuses the boyars of violating the monastic charter and this has led to social inequality. Terrible falls on the monks, who could not curb the temper of the boyars. Grozny's words are saturated with irony arising from self-abasement: "woe is me O. And further, the more Grozny speaks of his respect for the Kirillov Monastery, the more caustic his reproaches sound. He shames the brethren for allowing the boyars to violate the charter, and they themselves do not know, the tsar writes, who got their hair cut from whom, whether the boyars were monks or monks were boyars.

Terrible ends the message with an angry, irritable appeal, forbidding the monks to bother him with such problems. According to Likhachev, the Message is a free improvisation, passionate, written in a rush, turning into an accusatory speech. Ivan the Terrible is confident that he is right and is annoyed that the monks bother him.

In general, the messages of Ivan the Terrible are evidence of the beginning of the destruction of a strict system of literary style and the emergence of an individual style. True, at that time only the king was allowed to declare his individuality. Realizing his high position, the king could boldly break all established rules and play the roles of a wise philosopher, a humble servant of God, or a cruel ruler.

An example of a new type of life is precisely the "Life of Ulyaniya Osorgina" (The Life of Julian Lazarevskaya, The Tale of Ulyaniya Lazarevskaya)

"The Tale of Ulyania Lazarevskaya" - the first biography of a woman - a noblewoman in the ancient Russian literature(At that time, a noblewoman was not the highest stratum of society, but rather the middle class).

Main product features:

1. Life writes relative of a saint(in this case son)

2. The medieval principle of historicism is violated. The work should convey the most important historical events, the heroes are big figures, and not just a simple married woman with children.

3. The story is a clear indication that liters gets closer to the reader.

Written by the son of Ulyaniya Druzhina at the beginning of the 17th century. The second level of anonymity, little is known about the author. The son is well aware of the facts of the biography of the heroine, her personal qualities, her moral character is dear to him. The positive character of a Russian woman is revealed in the everyday atmosphere of a rich noble estate.

The qualities of an exemplary hostess come to the fore. After marriage, Ulyania has to take care of a complex household. Woman pulling a house, pleases the father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, monitors the work of serfs, herself settles social conflicts in the family and between the servants and gentlemen. So, one of the sudden riots of the courtyards leads to the death of her eldest son, but Ulyaniya resignedly endures all the hardships that fall on her lot.

The story truthfully and accurately depicts the position of a married woman in a large family, her lack of rights and duties.. Housekeeping absorbs Ulyana, she does not have time to go to church, but nevertheless she is a “saint”. So the story affirms the holiness of the feat of highly moral worldly life and service to people. Ulyaniya helps the starving, takes care of the sick during the "pestilence", doing "almsgiving beyond measure."

The story of Ulyaniya Lazarevskaya creates the image of an energetic, intelligent Russian woman, an exemplary hostess and wife, enduring all trials with patience and humility. that falls to her lot. So Druzhina depicts in the story not only the real character traits of her mother, but draws the general ideal image of a Russian woman as it seemed to a Russian nobleman of the early 17th century.

In biography The squad does not depart completely from the hagiographic tradition. So Ulyaniya comes from "God-loving" parents, she grew up in "pious faith" and "from the young nails love God." In the character of Ulyaniya traits inherent in a true Christian are traced- modesty, meekness, humility, tolerance and generosity (“doing immeasurable alms”. As befits Christian ascetics, Ulyaniya, although she does not go to the monastery, but under old age indulges in asceticism: refuses carnal "copulation with her husband", walks in winter without warm clothes.
The story also uses traditional hagiography motives of religious fiction: Ulyaniy wants to be killed by demons, but she is saved by the intervention of St. Nicholas. In a number of cases, "demonic intrigues" have very specific manifestations - conflicts in the family and the rebellion of "slaves".

As befits a saint, Juliana anticipates her death and piously dies, later her body works miracles.
Thus, the Tale of Yuliana Lazarevskaya is a work in which elements of an everyday story are intertwined with elements of a hagiographic genre, however, everyday description still prevails. The story is devoid of the traditional for life introduction, lamentation and praise. The style is pretty simple.
The story of Yuliana Lazarevskaya is evidence of the growing interest in society and literature in the private life of a person, his behavior in everyday life. As a result, as a result of the penetration of such realistic elements into life, the hagiographic litera is destroyed and turns into the genre of a secular biographical story.

No. 21 "The Tale of the Tver Otroch Monastery"

17th century.

The historical story gradually turns into a love-adventure novel, which can be easily traced in the Tale of the Tver Otroch Monastery. DS Likhachev studied this most interesting work in detail in selected works, so we will rely on his opinion.

"The Tale of the Tver Otroch Monastery", undoubtedly composed in the 17th century, tells about rather ordinary everyday drama: the bride of one marries another. The conflict escalates because both heroes of the story - both the former groom and the future spouse - are linked by friendship and feudal relations: the first is a servant, the "lad" of the second.

A remarkable feature of the story is that it is not based on the usual conflict between good and evil for medieval plots. In "The Tale of the Tver Otroch Monastery" there are no evil characters, no evil inclination at all. In her there is no social conflict: action in progress as if in an ideal country, where exist good relations between the prince and his subordinates. Peasants, boyars and their wives strictly follow the instructions of the prince, rejoice at his marriage, and gladly meet his young wife - a simple peasant woman. They go out to meet her with children and offerings, they are amazed at her beauty. All the people in this story are young and beautiful. Several times it is persistently spoken about the beauty of the heroine of the story - Xenia. She is pious and meek, humble and cheerful, has "a great mind and walk in all the commandments of the Lord." The youth Gregory, Xenia's fiancé, is just as young and handsome(Several times in the story, his expensive clothes are mentioned). He always "stands before the prince", was "very much loved" by him and faithful to him in everything. No less praise is given to the young Grand Duke Yaroslav Yaroslavich. All of them behave as they should, differ in piety and reason. Ksenia's parents are also ideally behaved. None of the actors made a single mistake. Little of, everything works according to plan. The youth and the prince see visions, fulfill the will revealed to them in these visions and signs. Moreover, Ksenia herself foresees what should happen to her. She is radiant not only with bright beauty, but also with bright foresight of the future. Nevertheless, the conflict is obvious - a sharp, tragic conflict, forcing all the characters in the story to suffer, and one of them, the lad Gregory, to go into the forests and found a monastery there. This is because for the first time in Russian literature, the conflict has been transferred from the sphere of the global struggle between evil and good to the very essence of human nature. Two people love the same heroine, and neither of them is guilty of his feeling. Is Xenia to blame for choosing one over the other? Of course, she is not to blame for anything, but in order to justify her, the author has to resort to a typical medieval device: Xenia follows the divine will. She obediently does what she is destined to do and what she cannot help but do. By this, the author, as it were, frees her from the burden of responsibility for her decisions; in essence, she decides nothing and does not change Grigory; it only follows what is revealed to it from above. Of course, this intervention from above weakens the earthly, purely human nature of the conflict, but this intervention is described in the story in the highest degree tactfully. The intervention of fate has no ecclesiastical character. Nowhere is it said about Xenia's visions, about her prophetic dreams, the voice she heard, or anything like that. Ksenia has the gift of clairvoyance, but this clairvoyance has not a church, but a completely folklore character. She knows what must be done, and why she knows - the reader is not informed about this. She knows the way a wise man knows the future. Xenia is a “wise maiden”, a character well known in Russian folklore and reflected in ancient Russian literature: let us recall the maiden Fevronia in the “Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom” of the 16th century. But, in contrast to the fabulous development of the plot, in the "Tale of the Tver Otroch Monastery" everything is transferred to a more "human plane". The story is still far from being immersed in everyday life, but it is already developing in the sphere of ordinary human relations.

The plot itself: the foundation of the Tver Otroche Monastery. When it turns out that Xenia has been given to another, Prince Yaroslav Yaroslavovich, Gregory changes into a peasant dress and goes into the forest, where "I put myself a hut and a chapel." The main reason that Gregory decides to found a monastery is not a pious desire to devote himself to God, but unrequited love.
The foundation of the monastery and the help of the prince in its construction finally confirm the main idea of ​​the story, that everything that happens happens for the improvement of the world. “The monastery still stands to this day by the grace of God and the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and the Great Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, Wonderworker.”

"The Tale of the Tver Otroch Monastery" has the features of an epic plot. It is brought closer to the translated chivalric romance by the love theme; as in "Bova", we meet here a classic love triangle and vicissitudes within this triangle that are not amenable to the reader's foresight.

Gregory instead of lost earthly love receives heavenly love. However, this preference is forced - and in the depiction of this compulsion, perhaps, new trends were reflected with the greatest force in the original fiction of the 17th century. Fate is inescapable, but it promised the prince happy love, and Grigory - unhappy. The lad has nothing more to look forward to in this world; he must build a monastery only in order to please the Lord and become “blessed.” Thus, on the ladder of Christian moral values, carnal, earthly love is one step higher - a conclusion, apparently, not foreseen by the author.

The Tale of "Woe - Misfortune"

One of the outstanding works of literature of the second half of the 17th century.

central theme: the theme of the tragic fate of the young generation, trying to break with the old forms of family and everyday life, domostroevskoy morality.

The basis of the plot of the story is the tragic life story of the Young Man, who rejected parental instructions and wished to live of his own free will, "as he pleases." Appearance generalized - a collective image of a representative of the younger generation of his time - an innovative phenomenon. per liter the personal story is replaced by a fictional character who embodies the typical features of an entire generation.

Medieval picture of the world.

Each period of historical and cultural development has its own worldview, its own ideas about nature, time and space, the order of everything that exists, about the relationship of people to each other, i.e. what can be called pictures of the world. They are formed partly spontaneously, partly purposefully, within the framework of religion, philosophy, science, art, ideology. Pictures of the world are formed on the basis of a certain way of life of people, become part of it and begin to have a strong impact on it. Medieval man proceeded from the picture of the world developed by Christianity, more precisely, its Western form, which was called Catholicism. In the Christian Creed, compiled in the 4th century, the church is called one (single), holy, catholic (in Church Slavonic - catholic) and apostolic.

The Church is Catholic (cathedral), since it has its followers in all countries of the world and contains in its dogmas the fullness of the truth, which is the same for all Christians. After the division of Christianity in 1054 into Western and Eastern, Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic churches appeared, and the latter more often began to be called Orthodox as a sign of the unchanging confession of the right faith.

Christianity is a religion of salvation. For him, the essence of the history of the world is the falling away of mankind (in the person of Adam and Eve) from God, subordinating man to the power of sin, evil, death, and the subsequent return to the Creator of the prodigal son who realized his fall. This return was led by God's chosen descendants of Abraham, with whom God makes a "covenant" (contract) and gives them a "law" (rules of conduct). The chain of the Old Testament righteous and prophets turns into a ladder ascending to God. But even guided from above, even a holy person cannot be completely cleansed, and then an incredible thing happens: God incarnates, he himself becomes a man, more precisely, a God-man, by virtue of his miraculous birth “from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary” free from sin. God the Word, the Savior, the Son of God appears as the Son of Man, a preacher from Galilee and voluntarily accepts a shameful death on the cross. He descends into hell, liberates the souls of those who have done good, rises on the third day, appears to the disciples, and soon then ascends to heaven. A few more days later, the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles (Pentecost) and gives them the strength to fulfill the covenant of Jesus - to preach the Gospel ("good news") to all nations. Christian evangelism combines an ethic based on love for one's neighbor with a feat of faith that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven through "narrow gates". Its goal is the deification of the believer, i.e. the transition to eternal life with God is achieved by the cooperation (synergy) of human efforts and God's grace.

In the medieval consciousness, both popular and elite, faith in magic and witchcraft occupied a large place. In the XI-XIII centuries. magic is relegated to the background, giving way to the expectation of the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. A new flowering of witchcraft, demonology, occultism falls on the XV-XVI centuries.

On the whole, medieval folk culture cannot be reduced to remnants of paganism and primitive beliefs. The world of images created by her provided the richest material for the art of the Middle Ages and the New Age, and became an important and integral part of European artistic culture.

Features of ancient Russian literature, its difference from the literature of modern times.

Old Russian literature is that solid foundation on which the majestic building of the national Russian artistic culture of the 18th-20th centuries is being erected. It is based on high moral ideals, faith in a person, in his possibility of unlimited moral perfection, faith in the power of the word, his ability to transform the inner world of a person, the patriotic pathos of serving the Russian land - the state - Motherland, faith in the final triumph of good over the forces of evil, universal unity of people and its victory over hated strife.

Chronological boundaries of ancient Russian literature and its specific features. Russian medieval literature is the initial stage in the development of Russian literature. Its emergence is closely connected with the process of formation of the early feudal state. Subordinate to the political tasks of strengthening the foundations of the feudal system, it in its own way reflected the various periods in the development of public and social relations in Rus' in the 11th-17th centuries. Old Russian literature is the literature of the emerging Great Russian people, gradually taking shape into a nation.

The question of the chronological boundaries of ancient Russian literature has not been finally resolved by our science. Ideas about the volume of ancient Russian literature still remain incomplete. Many works perished in the fire of countless fires, during the devastating raids of the steppe nomads, the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar invaders, the Polish-Swedish invaders! And at a later time, in 1737, the remains of the library of the Moscow tsars were destroyed by a fire that broke out in the Grand Kremlin Palace. In 1777, the Kiev library was destroyed by fire. During the Patriotic War of 1812, manuscript collections of Musin-Pushkin, Buturlin, Bause, Demidov, and the Moscow Society of Russian Literature Lovers burned down in Moscow.

The main keepers and copyists of books in Ancient Rus', as a rule, were monks, who were least of all interested in storing and copying books of worldly (secular) content. And this largely explains why the vast majority of the works of Old Russian literature that have come down to us are of a church nature.

The works of ancient Russian literature were divided into "worldly" and "spiritual". The latter were supported and disseminated in every possible way, as they contained the enduring values ​​of religious dogma, philosophy and ethics, and the former, with the exception of official legal and historical documents, were declared "vain". Thanks to this, we present our ancient literature to a greater extent ecclesiastical than it really was.

When embarking on the study of Old Russian literature, it is necessary to take into account its specific features, which differ from the literature of modern times.

A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is the hand-written nature of its existence and distribution. At the same time, this or that work did not exist in the form of a separate, independent manuscript, but was part of various collections that pursued certain practical goals. “Everything that serves not for the sake of benefit, but for the sake of embellishment, is subject to the charge of vanity.” These words of Basil the Great largely determined the attitude of the ancient Russian society to the works of writing. The value of this or that handwritten book was evaluated in terms of its practical purpose and usefulness.

“Great is the crawl from the teachings of the book, with books we show and teach us the way of repentance, we gain wisdom and restraint from the words of the book; this is the essence of the river, soldering the universe, this is the essence of the source of wisdom, the books have an inexhaustible depth, with these we are comforted in sorrow, this is the bridle of restraint ... If you diligently look for wisdom in the books, you will find the great crawl of your soul ... » - the chronicler teaches under 1037

Another feature of our ancient literature is the anonymity, the impersonality of its works. This was a consequence of the religious-Christian attitude of feudal society to man, and in particular to the work of a writer, artist, and architect. At best, we know the names of individual authors, "writers" of books, who modestly put their name either at the end of the manuscript, or in its margins, or (which is much less common) in the title of the work. At the same time, the writer will not accept to supply his name with such evaluative epithets as "thin", "unworthy", "sinful". In most cases, the author of the work prefers to remain unknown, and sometimes even hide behind the authoritative name of one or another "father of the church" - John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, etc.

Biographical information about the Old Russian writers known to us, the scope of their work, the nature of social activity is very, very scarce. Therefore, if in the study of literature of the XVIII-XX centuries. literary scholars widely draw on biographical material, reveal the nature of the political, philosophical, aesthetic views of a particular writer, using author's manuscripts, trace the history of the creation of works, reveal the creative individuality of the writer, then the monuments of ancient Russian literature have to be approached differently.

In medieval society, there was no concept of copyright, the individual characteristics of the personality of the writer did not receive such a vivid manifestation as in the literature of modern times. Scribes often acted as editors and co-authors, rather than mere copyists of the text. They changed the ideological orientation of the rewritten work, the nature of its style, shortened or extended the text in accordance with the tastes and demands of their time. As a result, new editions of monuments were created. And even when the scribe simply copied the text, his list was always somewhat different from the original: he made mistakes, omissions of words and letters, involuntarily reflected the features of his native dialect in the language. In this regard, in science there is a special term - "review" (manuscript of the Pskov-Novgorod, Moscow, or, more broadly, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc.).

As a rule, the author's texts of works have not come down to us, but their later lists have been preserved, sometimes separated from the time of writing the original by a hundred, two hundred or more years. For example, The Tale of Bygone Years, created by Nestor in 1111-1113, has not survived at all, and the edition of Sylvester's "Tale" (1116) is known only as part of the Laurentian Chronicle of 1377. The Tale of Igor's Campaign, written at the end of 80 -s of the 12th century, was found in the list of the 16th century.

All this requires an unusually thorough and painstaking textual work from a researcher of Old Russian literature: studying all the available lists of a particular monument, establishing the time and place of their writing by comparing different editions, variants of the lists, and also determining which edition of the list most closely matches original author's text. These issues are dealt with by a special branch of philological science - t e c s t o l o g and i.

Solving difficult questions about the time of writing a particular monument, its lists, the researcher turns to such an auxiliary historical and philological science as paleography. According to the peculiarities of lettering, handwriting, the nature of writing material, paper watermarks, the nature of headpieces, ornaments, miniatures illustrating the text of the manuscript, paleography makes it possible to relatively accurately determine the time of creation of a particular manuscript, the number of scribes who wrote it.

In the XI-first half of the XIV century. The main writing material was parchment, made from the skin of calves. In Rus', parchment was often called "veal", or "haratya". This expensive material was, of course, available only to the propertied classes, and artisans and merchants used birch bark for their ice correspondence. Birch bark also served as student notebooks. This is evidenced by the remarkable archaeological discoveries of Novgorod birch bark writings.

To save writing material, the words in the line were not separated, and only the paragraphs of the manuscript were highlighted with a red cinnabar initial - the initial, the title - "red line" in the literal sense of this word. Frequently used, well-known words were abbreviated under a special superscript - t and t l about m. For example, glitch (verb - says), bg (god), btsa (mother of God).

The parchment was preliminarily lined by the scribe using a ruler with a chain. The scribe would then lay him on his knees and carefully write out each letter. A handwriting with a regular, almost square lettering was called a stav. The work on the manuscript required painstaking work and great skill, therefore, when the scribe completed his hard work, he noted it with joy. “The merchant rejoices, having made the bribe and the helmsman in peace, the bailiff and the wanderer has come to his fatherland, so the book writer rejoices, having reached the end of the books ...”- we read at the end of the Laurentian Chronicle.

The written sheets were sewn into notebooks, which were bound into wooden boards. Hence the phraseological turn - "read the book from board to board." The binding boards were covered with leather, and sometimes they were clothed in special salaries made of silver and gold. A remarkable example of jewelry art is, for example, the frame of the Mstislav Gospel (beginning of the 12th century).

In the XIV century. parchment was replaced by paper. This cheaper writing material clung to and accelerated the writing process. The statutory letter is replaced by an oblique, rounded handwriting with a large number of portable superscripts - semi-charter. manuscripts of the 17th century .

A huge role in the development of Russian culture was played by the emergence of printing in the middle of the 16th century. However, until the beginning of the XVIII century. mainly church books were printed, while secular, artistic works continued to exist and were distributed in manuscripts.

When studying ancient Russian literature, one very important circumstance should be taken into account: in the medieval period, fiction had not yet emerged as an independent area of ​​​​social consciousness, it was inextricably linked with philosophy, science, and religion.

In this connection, it is impossible to mechanically apply to ancient Russian literature those criteria of artistry with which we approach when evaluating the phenomena of the literary development of modern times.

The process of historical development of ancient Russian literature is a process of gradual crystallization of fiction, its separation from the general flow of writing, its democratization and "secularization", i.e., release from the tutelage of the church.

One of the characteristic features of ancient Russian literature is its connection with church and business writing, on the one hand, and oral poetic folk art, on the other. The nature of these connections at each historical stage in the development of literature and in its individual monuments was different.

However, the wider and deeper literature used the artistic experience of folklore, the more vividly it reflected the phenomena of reality, the wider was the scope of its ideological and artistic influence.

A characteristic feature of ancient Russian literature is history. Its heroes are mainly historical figures, it almost does not allow fiction and strictly follows the fact. Even numerous stories about "miracles" - phenomena that seem supernatural to a medieval person, are not so much the fiction of an ancient Russian writer, but accurate records of the stories of either eyewitnesses or the persons themselves with whom the "miracle" happened.

The historicism of Old Russian literature has a specifically medieval character. The course and development of historical events is explained by God's will, the will of Providence. The heroes of the works are princes, rulers of the state, standing at the top of the hierarchical ladder of feudal society. However, having discarded the religious shell, the modern reader can easily discover that living historical reality, the true creator of which was the Russian people.

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