Old Russian literature. Features of ancient Russian literature, its difference from modern literature

The literature of Ancient Rus' arose in the 11th century. and developed over seven centuries until the Petrine era. Old Russian literature- this is a single whole with all the diversity of genres, themes, 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 and moral problems that heroes of all centuries think, talk about, and reflect on. The works form a love for the Fatherland and one’s people, show the beauty of the Russian land, so 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. Thus, images, ideas, even the style of writings were inherited by A. S. Pushkin, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy.

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

The very first original works, i.e. written by ourselves Eastern Slavs, date back to the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th centuries. V. There was a formation of Russian national literature, its traditions developed, the features that determined it specific features, a certain dissimilarity with the literature of our days.

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

II. Features of Old Russian literature.

2. 1. Historicism of content.

Events and characters in literature, as a rule, are the fruit of the author's imagination. Authors works of art, even if they describe the true events of real people, they conjecture a lot. But in Ancient Rus' everything was completely different. The ancient Russian scribe only talked about what, in his opinion, really happened. Only in the 17th century. Household 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. Thus, chronicles were a kind of legal document for the people of Ancient Rus'. After the death of Moscow Prince Vasily Dmitrievich in 1425, he 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 arbitrate 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. Handwritten nature of existence.

Another feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of its existence. Even the appearance of the printing press in Rus' changed the situation little until the middle of the 18th century. The existence of literary monuments in manuscripts led to a special veneration of the book. What even separate treatises and instructions were written about. But on the other hand, handwritten existence led to instability ancient Russian works literature. Those works 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 last for several centuries. Therefore, in scientific terminology, there are such concepts as “manuscript” (handwritten text) and “list” (rewritten work). The manuscript may contain lists various works and can be written either by the author himself or by scribes. Another fundamental concept in textual criticism is the term “edition,” i.e., the purposeful processing of a monument caused by socio-political events, changes in the function of the text, or differences in the language of the author and editor.

Closely connected with the existence of a work in manuscripts is such a specific feature of Old Russian literature as the problem of authorship.

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

Old Russian scribes did not at all strive to reveal their involvement in literary composition. Many monuments have remained anonymous; the authorship of others has been established by researchers based on indirect evidence. 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 messages is inimitable, boldly mixing eloquence and rude abuse, learned examples and the style of simple conversation.

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

The anonymity of literary monuments is also due to the fact that the ancient Russian “writer” did not consciously 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.

The famous literary critic, researcher of ancient Russian literature, Academician D. S. Likhachev, proposed a special term to designate the canon in the monuments of medieval Russian literature - “literary etiquette”.

Literary etiquette consists of:

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

From ideas about how one should behave actor according to your position;

From ideas about what words the writer should have described what was happening.

We have before us the etiquette of the world order, the etiquette of behavior and the etiquette of words. The hero is supposed to behave 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 “genre poetics.” 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 amount of research has been devoted to the genre uniqueness 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. The Life, which came to Rus' from Byzantium along with the adoption of Christianity, became the main genre of Old Russian literature, the literary form in which the spiritual ideals of Ancient Rus' were clothed.

The compositional and verbal forms of life have been refined over the centuries. The high theme - a story about life that embodies ideal service to the world and God - determines the author’s image and the style of the narrative. The author of the life tells the story excitedly; he does not hide his admiration for the holy ascetic and his admiration for his righteous life. The author's emotionality and excitement color the entire narrative 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) was obliged to follow a number of rules and canons. The composition of a correct life should be three-fold: introduction, story about the life and deeds of the saint from birth to death, praise. In the introduction, the author asks forgiveness from readers for their inability to write, for the rudeness of the narrative, etc. The introduction was followed by the life itself. 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, and accidental. In a life compiled according to all the rules, there are few dates, exact geographical names, or names of historical figures. The action of the life takes place, as it were, outside of historical time and specific space; it unfolds against the backdrop of eternity. Abstraction is one of the features of the hagiographic style.

At the end of the life there should be praise to the saint. This is one of the most important parts of life, which required great literary art and 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 ancient period development of our literature. Monuments of church and secular eloquence are divided into two types: teaching and solemn.

Solemn eloquence required depth of concept and great literary skill. The speaker needed the ability to construct a speech effectively in order to capture the listener, set him in a high mood corresponding to the topic, and shock him with pathos. There was a special term for a solemn speech - “word”. (There was no terminological unity in ancient Russian literature. “Word” could also be called war story.) Speeches were not only delivered, but written and distributed in numerous copies.

Solemn eloquence did not pursue narrow practical goals; it required the formulation of problems of broad social, philosophical and theological scope. The main reasons for creating “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 most ancient monument of solemn eloquence is the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, written between 1037 and 1050.

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

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

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

3. 3. Chronicle.

Chronicles were weather records (by “summers” - by “years”). The annual entry began with the words: “Into the summer.” After this 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 telling stories about history from ancient times and only then move on to the events of recent years. The chronicler had to first of all 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 what he considered necessary to include in his own work. When materials relating to the past were collected, the chronicler moved on to recounting the events of his time. The result of this great job the chronicle was forming. After some time, other chroniclers continued this collection.

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

Nikon's work formed the basis of another chronicle, which was compiled in the same monastery two decades later. IN scientific literature it received the code name “Initial Vault”. Its nameless compiler replenished Nikon's collection not only with news from recent years, but also with chronicle information from other Russian cities.

“The Tale of Bygone Years”

Based on the chronicles of the 11th century tradition. The greatest chronicle monument of the era of Kievan Rus - “The Tale of Bygone Years” was born.

It was compiled in Kyiv in the 10s. 12th century According to some historians, its probable compiler was the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor, also known for his other works. When creating “The Tale of Bygone Years,” its compiler used numerous materials with which he supplemented the Primary Code. These materials included 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 just to tell about the past of Rus', but also to determine the place of the Eastern Slavs among the European and Asian peoples.

The chronicler talks in detail about the settlement Slavic peoples in ancient times, about the settlement of territories by the Eastern Slavs that would later become part of Old Russian state, about the morals and customs of different tribes. The Tale of Bygone Years emphasizes not only the antiquity 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 of the first Russian Christians, the baptism of Rus', the spread of the new faith, the construction of churches, the emergence of monasticism, and 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 brilliant publicist. Many chroniclers of subsequent centuries turned to the experience of the creator of the Tale, sought to imitate him and almost necessarily placed the text of the monument at the beginning of each new chronicle.

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, and 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, called Catholicism. In the Christian Creed, compiled in the 4th century, the church is called one (unique), holy, Catholic (in Church Slavonic - cathedral) and apostolic.

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

Christianity- religion of salvation. For him, the essence of the history of the world is the falling away of humanity (in the person of Adam and Eve) from God, which subjugated 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 is led by God's chosen descendants of Abraham, with whom God enters into a "covenant" (agreement) and gives them a "law" (rules of behavior). The chain of Old Testament righteous men and prophets turns into a ladder ascending to God. But even guided from above, even a holy person cannot be completely cleansed, and then the incredible happens: God incarnates, he himself becomes a man, or rather 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, frees the souls of those who did good, resurrects 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 ethics based on love for one's neighbor with the feat of faith, which leads through the “narrow gates” to the Kingdom of Heaven. Its goal is the deification of the believer, i.e. transition to eternal life with God, is achieved through the cooperation (synergy) of human efforts and God's grace.

In the medieval consciousness, both popular and elite, belief in magic and witchcraft occupied a large place. In the XI–XIII centuries. magic is relegated to the background, giving way to the anticipation of the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. A new flowering of witchcraft, demonology, and the occult occurred in the 15th–16th centuries.

Overall medieval folk culture cannot be reduced only to the remnants of paganism and primitive beliefs. The world of images she created provided rich material for the art of the Middle Ages and Modern times, became important and integral part European artistic culture.

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

Old Russian literature is the solid foundation on which the majestic edifice of national Russian artistic culture of the 18th-20th centuries is erected. It is based on high moral ideals, faith in man, in his possibilities for limitless moral improvement, faith in the power of the word, its ability to transform the inner world of man, the patriotic pathos of serving the Russian land - the state - the Motherland, faith in the final triumph of good over the forces of evil, the worldwide unity of people and its victory over hateful strife.

Chronological boundaries of Old 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. Subordinated to the political tasks of strengthening the foundations of the feudal system, it reflected in its own way various periods of development of social and social relations in Rus' XI-XVII centuries. Old Russian literature is the literature of the emerging Great Russian nationality, gradually developing 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 were lost in the fire of countless fires, during the devastating raids of steppe nomads, the invasion of Mongol-Tatar invaders, and 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, the handwritten collections of Musin-Pushkin, Buturlin, Bauze, Demidov, and the Moscow Society of Lovers of Russian Literature were burned in Moscow.

The main keepers and copyists of books in Ancient Rus', as a rule, were monks, who were least interested in storing and copying books of secular (secular) content. And this largely explains why the overwhelming majority of works of Old Russian writing that have reached us are of an ecclesiastical nature.

Works of ancient Russian literature were divided into “secular” and “spiritual”. The latter were supported and disseminated in every possible way, since 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 as more ecclesiastical than it actually was.

When starting to study ancient Russian literature, it is necessary to take into account its specific features, which are different from the literature of modern times.

A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is the handwritten nature of its existence and distribution. Moreover, 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 accusation of vanity.” These words of Basil the Great largely determined the attitude of ancient Russian society towards written works. The value of a particular handwritten book was assessed from the point of view of its practical purpose and usefulness.

“Great is the benefit of the teachings of books, for we teach through books and teach the ways of repentance, and we gain wisdom and abstinence from the words of books; for these are the rivers that feed the universe, these are the sources of wisdom, these are the sources of wisdom, these are the unsought depths, these are the comforts of us in sorrow, these are the bridles of self-control... If you diligently search for wisdom in the books, you will find great progress in your soul... "- the chronicler teaches in 1037.

Another feature of our ancient literature is the anonymity, the impersonality of her works. This was a consequence of the religious-Christian attitude of feudal society towards man, and in particular towards the work of a writer, artist, and architect. At best, we know the names of individual authors, “copywriters” 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 provide his name with such evaluative epithets as “thin”, “unworthy”, “many sinners”. In most cases, the author of the work prefers to remain unknown, and sometimes hide behind the authoritative name of one or another “father of the church” - John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, etc.

Biographical information about the ancient Russian writers known to us, the volume of their creativity, character social activities very, very scarce. Therefore, if when studying literature of the 18th-20th centuries. literary critics widely use biographical material, reveal the nature of the political, philosophical, aesthetic views of a particular writer, using the author’s manuscripts, trace the history of the creation of works, identify creative individuality writer, then the monuments of ancient Russian writing have to be approached differently.

In medieval society there was no concept of copyright, individual characteristics The writer's personality did not receive such a vivid manifestation as in the literature of modern times. Copyists often acted as editors and co-authors rather than simple copyists of the text. They changed the ideological orientation of the work being copied, the nature of its style, shortened or distributed 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 copyist simply copied the text, his list was always somehow different from the original: he made typos, omitted words and letters, and involuntarily reflected in the language the features of his native dialect. In this regard, in science there is a special term - “izvod” (manuscript of the Pskov-Novgorod edition, Moscow, or, more broadly, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc.).

As a rule, the author's texts of works have not reached us, but their later lists have been preserved, sometimes distant from the time the original was written 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 “story” (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 a list of the 16th century.

All this requires from the researcher of ancient Russian literature unusually thorough and painstaking textual work: studying all available lists of a particular monument, establishing the time and place of their writing by comparing various editions, variants of lists, as well as determining which edition the list most matches original author's text. A special branch deals with these issues philological science - t e c t o l o g y .

When solving complex questions about the time of writing of this or that monument, its lists, the researcher turns to such an auxiliary historical and philological science as paleography. Based on the characteristics of letters, handwriting, the nature of writing material, paper watermarks, the nature of headpieces, ornaments, miniatures illustrating the text of a manuscript, paleography makes it possible to relatively accurately determine the time of creation of a particular manuscript and the number of scribes who wrote it.

In the XI-first half of the XIV century. The main writing material was parchment, made from calf skin. In Rus', parchment was often called “veal” or “haratya”. This expensive material was, naturally, available only to the propertied classes, and artisans and traders 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 letters.

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 letter - the initial, the title - a “red line” in the literal sense of the word. Frequently used, widely famous words were written abbreviated under a special superscript - t and t l o m. For example, lithargy (verb - says), bg (god), btsa (Mother of God).

The parchment was pre-lined by a scribe using a ruler with a chain. Then the scribe placed it on his lap and carefully wrote out each letter. Handwriting with a regular, almost square outline of letters was called u st a v o m. Work on the manuscript required painstaking work and great art, therefore, when the scribe completed his hard work, he celebrated it with joy. “The merchant rejoices when he has made the purchase, and the helmsman in the calm of the bailiff and the wanderer having come to his fatherland, the book writer rejoices in the same way when he reaches the end of his books...”- we read at the end of the Laurentian Chronicle.

The written sheets were sewn into notebooks, which were intertwined in wooden boards. Hence the phraseological turn - “read a book from board to board.” The binding boards were covered with leather, and sometimes covered with special frames made of silver and gold. A remarkable example of jewelry art is, for example, the setting of the Mstislav Gospel (early 12th century).

In the XIV century. paper replaced parchment. This cheaper writing material adhered and speeded up the writing process. The charter letter is replaced by slanted, rounded handwriting with a large number of extended superscripts - poluustav. In the monuments of business writing, cursive appears, which gradually replaces the semi-ustav and occupies a dominant position in manuscripts of the 17th century .

The emergence of printing in the mid-16th century played a huge role in the development of Russian culture. However, until the beginning of the 18th century. Mostly church books were printed, but secular and 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 ​​public consciousness; it was inextricably linked with philosophy, science, and religion.

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

Process historical development ancient Russian literature represents a process of gradual crystallization fiction, its isolation from the general flow of writing, its democratization and “secularization,” i.e., liberation from the tutelage of the church.

One of the characteristic features of Old Russian literature is its connection with church and business writing, on the one hand, and oral poetic folk art- with another. The nature of these connections at each historical stage of 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 clearly it reflected the phenomena of reality, the wider was the sphere of its ideological and artistic influence.

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

The historicism of ancient 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 easily discovers that living historical reality, the true creator of which was the Russian people.

Related information.

Old Russian literature, like any medieval literature, has a number of features that distinguish it from the literature of modern times. A characteristic feature literature of the medieval type is a broad interpretation of the concept of “literature” as the written word with the obligatory inclusion of functional genres, usually performing religious, ritual or business functions. It should be noted that in the Middle Ages the basis genre system They constitute functional genres that have special extra-literary functions. On the contrary, genres with weakened functionality are on the periphery of this system. In the transition period from the Middle Ages to the culture of modern times, a reverse process occurs: genres with weakened functionality move to the center of the system, and functional genres are pushed to the periphery.

Thus, DRL is a complex conglomerate of artistic and business monuments (1). This feature was due to its close connection with history, Christian religion and writing in general.

Handwritten nature of the existence of DRL works (2) fundamentally distinguishes it from the literature of modern times. A work, as a rule, appeared not in one, but in several lists. The scribe sometimes simply copied the manuscript, creating a new list, but often changed its ideological orientation in accordance with the requirements of the time, shortened or expanded the text, and changed the style of the monument. In this case we are talking about a new editorial staff works. The author's list of text is called autograph. In the process of processing a work, its editorial staff. Since the work in the DRL existed for several centuries and in different regions, there could be several editions. The list, which turns out to be the basis for processing, is called protographer. It may not always be the author's version. Researchers of movement and text development in DRL – textualists and paleographers– consider the types of handwriting of scribes, features of spelling, grammar, identify individual language differences and, on the basis of this, draw up a hypothetical scheme for the development and distribution of editions of the monument. Textual criticism and paleography- These are auxiliary disciplines that help in the study of handwritten texts. Textual criticism studies the text itself, while paleography examines the material on which and with the help of which a handwritten monument was created.

Anonymity (3) Most of the works of DRL - another of its distinctive features associated with the Christian concept of human personality, according to which pride was considered one of the greatest sins, and humility - the height of virtue. Because of this, the individual characteristics of the writer’s personality in medieval literature did not receive such a vivid manifestation as in the literature of modern times. However, anonymity should not be confused with impersonality. It has long been proven that individual authorship existed in DRL, but the forms of its expression were different than in the literature we are accustomed to. The attitude towards copyright in DRL was completely different. Anonymity allowed authors to use parts of “other people’s” texts to compose their own. Exceptions were made only for authoritative works - texts of the Holy Scriptures and Tradition, writings of the church fathers, state documents. References were necessarily made to the names of their creators. However, authoritative church texts were recognizable due to their wide popularity.

Medieval historicism (4). DRL began as literature devoid of fiction. The scribe strictly followed the facts, connecting his work with a specific historical event or person. Even when we're talking about about supernatural phenomena, about persons and events that, from our point of view, did not exist or were impossible in reality, all the same, both the compiler of the work and the reader in Ancient Rus' perceived everything written as something that actually happened. And this attitude towards the written text persisted for a very long time. Perhaps only in the 17th century this tradition was destroyed.

The principle of historicism is associated with providentialism (5), that is, the idea of ​​predestination. Thus, any hero of hagiographic literature, even in childhood, shows a tendency towards a holy life. If he begins his life sinfully, then his belief, a change in the quality of his spiritual state is inevitable, predetermined from above. The suffering of the Russian people “for our sins” is also predetermined in the stories about the Tatar-Mongol invasion.

The peculiarities of the worldview of medieval man determined the authoritarian thinking of the ancient Russian scribe and authoritarianism (6) as a feature of the artistic method of DRL. Reference to historical, literary or political authority is very important for ancient Russian man(this has already been mentioned above). Often new works were signed with the names of church fathers and hierarchs of past years just to give them greater weight. The reader who first becomes acquainted with the monuments of the DRL draws attention to the abundance of direct quotes and indirect references to the texts of the New and Old Testaments, numerous references to the works of authoritative church writers. In these quotes, the author seemed to consolidate his moral, didactic, political and aesthetic assessment of a fact, event, person, and asserted its universal significance and universal acceptance.

Closely related to authoritarian thinking retrospective principle historical analogy (7) , which is the most important means author's assessment one or another historical event. Here is what V.V. writes about this. Kuskov: “A retrospective historical analogy allows us to more deeply reveal the significance of a particular historical event, assess the behavior of its participants, glorify them or condemn them, establish a unique typological commonality between the events of Ancient Rus' and the events of world history and thereby indicate their certain pattern.” Using the material from the monuments of the Kulikovo cycle, the researcher shows how an unbroken chain of victories won by the Russian princes Yaroslav the Wise, Alexander Nevsky, and Dmitry Donskoy is established. “Traditional reception,” continues V.V. Kuskov, - a retrospective historical analogy with biblical characters in “The Tale of the Battle of Mama” emphasizes the significance of the victory won on the Kulikovo field. It is equated to the victory of Gideon over Midian, Moses over Amalek and Pharaoh, David over Goliath. The troops of the Moscow prince are similar to the army of Alexander the Great, the courage of the Russian soldiers is similar to Gideon’s allies. And the heavenly forces help Dmitry just as they once helped Tsar Constantine in his fight against the wicked. The regiments of Dmitry Volynets are like the youths of David, “those who had hearts, like the lvovs, like the luthiers, they came to the flock of sheep.” In his prayers, Dmitry asks God to help him in the same way as Hezekiah - to tame the heart of the ferocious beast Mamai.”

Authority also dominated in the area artistic form. DRL can be called exemplary literature, literature of sustainable etiquette. Traditional (8) covers not only the content of works, but also their form: principles of depicting a person, plot, composition, language. The traditionalism of medieval literature cannot be perceived as the result of the “childish spontaneity”, inability or “ineptitude” of the scribe. This is a phenomenon of the era, an urgent need of the time, a fact of man’s moral consciousness, without which he could not explain the world and navigate in it.

The authoritarianism of the DRL reflects the estate-corporate principle of the existence of ancient Russian people. A clear awareness of the impossibility of breaking the estate-corporate principle leaves its mark on literature. If you are a prince, then you are obliged to be one and behave in accordance with the idea of ​​worthy princely behavior. “Just as a cauldron cannot be freed from blackness and burning, so a slave cannot be freed from servitude” (“Prayer” by Daniil Zatochnik). Human behavior in medieval society is determined by rank. Likhachev called this feature of life etiquette. But it is more accurate to use the terms decorum and orderliness. Even the clothing of a medieval person is a sign of rank. Decency is order. Disorder, disorder - disorder. A person must take his place in the general ranks. Order and rowness become indicators of the structure of the world. In the 17th-century work “The Officer of the Falconer’s Way,” created not without the participation of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the credo of human behavior and order is clearly formulated. Old Russian "rank" as literary concept corresponds to some extent modern concept“rhythm”, for it is precisely the measured adherence to order and decorum that creates the vital basis for the ceremonial nature of Russian literature.

Traditionality becomes a type of medieval creativity, the most important factor in the intellectual development of reality. It rests on the deep conviction that there is only one correct worldview in the world - Christian ideology. Traditionalism of ideological and artistic thinking, reflecting medieval ideas about the new as heretical, did not allow a different approach to assessing the phenomenon, regarding any other point of view as coming from the devil.

An ancient Russian writer creates within a certain tradition. He sees the true value of medieval art in its exact adherence to the model. The highest example and the highest truth is, of course, the authority of Holy Scripture.

D.S. Likhachev introduced the concept literary etiquette (9) , by which we will understand the system of canonical literary devices– compositional, system of images, language, stylistic clichés, etc., necessary to create works of certain genres, images of certain characters.

An essential feature of DRL is its direct and more stable connection with ideology (10) . A.N. Robinson explains this by saying that in the Middle Ages “artistic literary creativity did not develop independently (as a special form of ideology), but as if “within” or as part of various practically purposeful genres of writing (for example, in chronicle writing, and in solemn sermons, and in hagiography, etc.) ... Similar the combined and practically purposeful functions of literature delayed the identification of the actual artistic creativity from writing and determined a more direct (than in modern literature) dependence of aesthetics on ideology as a whole.” It follows from this that didacticism DRL. The author always set practical and didactic goals for his work, for medieval literature is utilitarian, it is created for the benefit of the soul. Even history is always an edifying lesson.

Process of creation literary work in Ancient Rus' was closely connected with the process of cognition, which in turn was determined by the peculiarities of the worldview of medieval man. The worldview of the ancient Russian scribe is characterized by binary, the opposition of the real to the unreal, the temporary to the eternal. These features of the vision of the world affected the theory of knowledge: the scribe comprehends the surrounding reality and everyday things with “bodily eyes.” The secrets of the ideal world are revealed to man through spiritual insight, divine revelation, therefore knowledge of the heavenly is possible only with “spiritual eyes.”

From the point of view of a medieval person, divine powers could manifest themselves in life either directly or indirectly, with the help of various hints. Perceiving reality as a symbol of the ideal world, a person perceived any phenomenon, any object real world as a sign expressing the sacred essence of this phenomenon or object. Based on this vision of the world, the symbolism (11) - one of the most characteristic features medieval literature. The emergence of symbolism in the DRL should not be associated solely with the dominance of Christian ideology. It is inherent in the art of pre-Christian eras. So, A.N. Veselovsky distinguished between pagan symbolism and Christian symbolism. In his opinion, in paganism “the symbol came out of life,” while in Christianity “life begins to be determined by the mental material introduced into it.”

Medieval literature and art are built on symbols. Dionysius the Areopagite states: “Manifest things are images of invisible things.” Each thing is a symbol of the invisible. In the medieval consciousness, the world doubles. The real, earthly world is a symbol and prototype of the ideal, heavenly world. Only one who has achieved perfection through internal contemplation can penetrate into the heavenly world; then the inner eyes open and prophets are born. Let us note that literature does not forget anything. Based on the principle of doubling the world, images of poet-prophets appear in romantic aesthetics.

Events also double up. They have analogues in the past, primarily in biblical and evangelical history, which is thought of as reality. IN historical event it's important to find hidden meaning. God is an intelligent and wise mentor who is trying to educate humanity with his batog. Please note that symbolism, like the historicism of the DRL, turns out to be associated with the idea of ​​predestination, providentialism. Objects are symbolic. The sword is a symbol of power and justice, the shield is protection, defense. The church is a symbol of heaven, the earthly sky, the ark of salvation (just as God saved Noah in the ark, so the temple saves man). Gold symbolizes eternity and Christ. The cross is salvation, the torment of the cross. Let us note that the symbolism of the DRL gave rise to the predominance of the parable genre, which was the fundamental basis of genre systems.

Of course, all these features of DRL could not remain unchanged for seven centuries; they gradually transformed as literature developed.

1. Ancient literature is filled with deep patriotic content, the heroic pathos of serving the Russian land, state, and homeland.
2. The main theme of ancient Russian literature is world history and the meaning of human life.
3. Ancient literature glorifies the moral beauty of the Russian person, capable of sacrificing what is most precious for the sake of the common good - life. It expresses a deep belief in the power, the ultimate triumph of good and the ability of man to elevate his spirit and defeat evil.
4. A characteristic feature of Old Russian literature is historicism. The heroes are mainly historical figures. Literature strictly follows fact.
5. 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 and how should be depicted.
6. Old Russian literature appears with the emergence of the state, writing and is based on book Christian culture and developed forms of oral poetic creativity. At this time, literature and folklore were closely connected. Literature often perceived plots artistic images, visual arts folk art.
7. The originality of ancient Russian literature in the depiction of the hero depends on the style and genre of the work. In relation to styles and genres, the hero is reproduced in the monuments of ancient literature, ideals are formed and created.
8. In ancient Russian literature, a system of genres was defined, within which the development of original Russian literature began. The main thing in their definition was the “use” of the genre, the “practical purpose” for which this or that work was intended.
9. The traditions of Old Russian literature are found in the works of Russian writers of the 18th-20th centuries.

TEST QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. How does Academician D.S. characterize Likhachev ancient Russian literature? Why does he call it “one grandiose whole, one colossal work”?
2. What does Likhachev compare ancient literature with and why?
3. What are the main advantages of ancient literature?
4. Why would the artistic discoveries of literature of subsequent centuries be impossible without the works of ancient literature? (Think about what qualities of ancient literature were adopted by Russian literature of modern times. Give examples from works of Russian classics known to you.)
5. What did Russian poets and prose writers value and adopt from ancient literature? What did A.S. write about her? Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, A.I. Herzen, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak?
6. What does ancient literature write about the benefits of books? Give examples of “praise of books” known in ancient Russian literature.
7. Why were ideas about the power of words high in ancient literature? What were they connected with, what did they rely on?
8. What is said about the word in the Gospel?
9. What do writers compare books to and why; why are books rivers, sources of wisdom, and what do the words mean: “if you diligently look for wisdom in the books, you will find great benefit for your soul”?
10. Name the monuments of ancient Russian literature known to you and the names of their scribes.
11. Tell us about the method of writing and the nature of ancient manuscripts.
12. Name the historical background for the emergence of ancient Russian literature and its specific features in contrast to the literature of modern times.
13. What is the role of folklore in the formation of ancient literature?
14. Using vocabulary and reference material, briefly retell the history of the study of ancient monuments, write down the names of the scientists involved in their research and the stages of study.
15. What is the image of the world and man in the minds of Russian scribes?
16. Tell us about the depiction of man in ancient Russian literature.
17. Name the themes of ancient literature, using vocabulary and reference material, characterize its genres.
18. List the main stages in the development of ancient literature.

Read also the articles in the section “ National identity ancient literature, its origin and development."

Russian literature before the 18th century is traditionally called “ancient”. Old Russian literature represents 2/3 of all literature. During this time, many monuments were created (about 40 thousand), most of which have not reached us. In the initial period (10th-11th centuries), the books of the 11th century were based on the books of the 10th century: treaties between the Russians and the Greeks and with other peoples. There were books written on wood and ceramics. No earlier texts have been found.

Framework- Beginning of the 10th-11th century - before the reforms of Peter (late 17).

Specific features of Old Russian literature:

1. medieval character

-religiosity – main topic– religion. Literature is authoritarian, trace. idea of ​​the world: the world is binary, nature is also binary.

-the earthly world is secondary>>> the purpose of literature is to bring man closer to the heavenly world

Double sense organs (smart eyes - bodily eyes, smart ears - bodily ushima, etc.) >>> the task of literature is a spiritual view.

-etiquette- a set of ideas about how events should have developed, how the characters should have behaved, and what words should be used to describe events. (Likhachev). >>> Features of medieval artistic consciousness. (description of princes, saints - description by types of images).

Consciousness is different than a person of modern times. New is heresy. The main thing is authority - the Bible, the gospel.

It was important set of ideas about the world– did not notice the passage of time, did not proceed from ideas of progress, time in the past (paradise) is better. The future must return to the past. The passage of time and the change in man were not noticed; the images also did not change. And in the 19th century we see the dynamics of images.

Official status of a person– status in the secular hierarchy (prince) or church (saints, metropolitans).

Anonymity– we don’t know the names, or we know them if the hero had extra-literary authority. (Metropolitan Hilarion)

Syncretism. This is a combination of various qualities inherent in different cultural formats. For example, for a medieval person, the world around us is a world of symbols (7,12 - symbols of Christ, 4 - earth, 3 - divine). The symbol depends on the context: actual meaning, allegorical, tropological, anagogical. Previously, books were addressed to anyone, but now they are not. Then descriptions of people’s appearance were conventional, there were no landscapes, descriptions everyday scenes, paintings. (Rublev’s icon is a symbol)

Handwriting - books were created in a single copy, rewritten >>> variability texts>>> a large role for textual criticism.

2. national specifics

connection between ancient Russian literature and literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Military-patriotic issues

The fate of the little man

The idea of ​​forgiveness (Monomakh - Tolstoy)

Great role of satire, criticism

Criticism is a mediator between literature and life

Russian literature – literature of large spaces (panoramic view)

The historical path of Russian literature (there was no Renaissance, European literature was noticed selectively). Literature - the legacy of Byzantine literature

3. literariness

Performed many different functions>>> not literature itself

There is no description of the appearance of people, landscapes >>> interaction with painting

Also, the main features of culture and literature include:

International language of culture. In Slavic countries it was Church Slavonic, in European countries it was Latin. Dr. Russian literature was written in Church Slavonic.

Connection with extraliterary functions . There was a connection with church rituals. If in Europe there were: theology, philosophy, art. lit. In Russian traditions there is a lack of differentiation of these forms. Even in the 19th century, Russian philosophy and theology were not completely separated from culture and literature.

The originality of the historical and literary process in Rus' : There was no revival. Baroque.

A special idea of ​​space. The space is huge, endless (for example, the word about Igor's campaign).

Criticality. Satire of the 19th and 20th centuries played a major role. (“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - critical)

Old Russian literature in our sense is moreliterature . The specific features of ancient Russian literature were:

Texts are handwritten, i.e. in one copy

In Ancient Rus', the language changed faster. The scribe could have corrected something

Dialects of different regions also influenced and made their own amendments to the text

These features make ancient Russian literature similar to folklore.

The texts were in a complementary relationship. The texts were universal, for truth. There is no individualization of a person, no description of appearance, no description of the landscape. The miniatures complemented the verbal descriptions.

Attitude to texts and books – a book expressing a value system. 19th century – change of value system – 20 years (Fathers and Sons). 20th century - decades. The book connected generations. 20-30 thousand ancient Russian books have survived. Anti-market attitude (not an item of trade) – cannot be bought or sold. You can bequeath, donate.

Rewriting was honorary (princes, princesses, monks, bishops). The books were priceless. They couldn't be bought ideally. They were passed down from generation to generation. Many books are based on the calendar principle, since reading was timed to coincide with religious holidays. For example, the Gospel exists in aprokost form (according to the calendar).

Spread of bookishness in Rus' in the 10th and early 11th centuries. faced considerable difficulties. There were still very few literate people, and even less skilled scribes. The oldest extant manuscripts that reach us date back to the second half of the 11th century: this Ostromir Gospel, rewritten from the Bulgarian original " Izbornik", a small collection of words and teachings. The creation of the oldest literary monuments known to us can also be attributed to this time: “ Words about Law and Grace»Metropolitan Hilarion, chronicle vaults, etc. However, all of them were preserved only in later lists.

We can, however, imagine character of literature that time. Her the genre system met spiritual needs, typical of Christian states in the Middle Ages. Literature was devoted mainly to ideological issues.“Old Russian literature can be considered as literature of one theme and one plot. This plot is world history, and this theme is the meaning of human life.”, - so briefly formulated characteristic features of literature of the most ancient period of Russian history D.S. Likhachev.

The basis for Christian doctrine and worldviews were bible books(or Holy Bible), as well as the works of the most authoritative theologians. The Bible includes the books of the Old and New Testaments. The popularity of the Psalter, a collection of 150 psalms (prayers and hymns), was enormous. The entire Bible was translated into Rus' only in the 15th century, but individual biblical books became known in Slavic translations already in Kievan Rus.

Genres: sermons (for church use), life, walking, chronicle (PVL), sermons (“the word about the law and grace of Hilarion”, hagiography (The Tale of Boris and Gleb), walking (“across the three seas by Athanasius Nikitin”).

Genres that gave a spiritual view of the world (sermons, lives, teachings). The sermon is sacred in nature and unites two time layers. Teachings are a didactic genre. Vladimir Monomakh writes his teaching based on his biography. And genres that depict the world in a physical form (the walks of Hegumen Daniel (water touches everything), Military Tale (battle, battle)).

Simple and complex genres. The chronicle could include the life (of Boris and Gleb). PVL – military story, folklore genres (family legends, toponymic). Small genres (Princess Olga asks riddles). The circulation came down as part of the chronicle, and may include small genres (folklore writings, af Nikitin about monkeys, Daniel - a description of apocryphal legends which he heard in the holy land).

"A Word on Law and Grace" » , written by the Kyiv priest Hilarion (future metropolitan), was first pronounced by him in 1049 in honor of the completion of the construction of Kyiv defensive structures. Hilarion’s “Lay” is a kind of church-political treatise in which the Russian land and its princes are glorified.

In addition to the “Sermon on Law and Grace,” the works of Kliment Smolyatich and Kirill of Turov and the “Teaching” of Prince VM have reached us.

"Teaching" of Prince Vladimir Monomakh united four independent works: this is the “Teaching” itself, an autobiography and a “Letter to Oleg Svyatoslavovich”, a prayer.

“Teaching” by Vladimir Monomakh - for now the only example in ancient Russian literature of political and moral instruction created not by a spiritual leader, but by a statesman.“The Instruction,” like later “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” was not so much based on the traditions of certain literary genres, but rather met the political needs of its time. Monomakh included his autobiography in the Instructions.

The most ancient Russian chronicle. The emergence of writing made it possible to record oral historical traditions. This is how chronicle writing arose. It was the chronicle that was destined, until the 18th century, to become one of the leading literary genres, in the depths of which Russian plot storytelling developed.

The history of the oldest chronicles is to a certain extent hypothetical. We have only lists of chronicles from very late times (the Novgorod Chronicle of the 13th-14th centuries, the Laurentian Chronicle of 1377, the Ipatiev Chronicle of the early 15th century), reflecting not the most ancient chronicle codes, but their subsequent processing.

Initial chronicle . The oldest chronicle that has actually reached us is the “Tale of Bygone Children,” presumably created around 1113. Chronicle writing as a genre appears, apparently, only during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054.

The next stage in the development of Russian chronicles occurred in the 1060-70s, associated with the activities of the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nikon. "Initial vault". Around 1095, a new chronicle was created, which A.A. Shakhmatov called it “Initial arch”. The compiler of the “NS” continued Nikon’s collection, bringing the account of events from 1073 to 1095, and gave his narrative a more journalistic character.

Further development is characterized by a mixture of genres from the 13th century to the end of the 15th century. Regional versions of literature appear (Tver, Novgorod), a softening of accents, and the main genre is the story. Lives play a big role (the style changes, the role of the author increases (Life of Sergius of Radonezh, Stefany of Perm)

Tue floor 15-16 century.– epistolary type (letters from Ivan the Terrible). The Age of Journalism. Journalism of Maxim the Greek.

17th century- the medieval system of genres is destroyed, lives disappear, turn into stories (the lives of Archpriest Avvakum, about Martha and Mary), the military story becomes a historical story, the historical story absorbs folklore and features of utopia (in reality one thing, but the author creates a different reality).

P. S. Girls, I don’t know if it’s necessary to talk about translated literature, I’ll leave it just in case, it’s never too late to delete it!!

Translated literatureXI- XIIIcenturies.Chronicles. Among the first translations and the first books brought to Rus' from Bulgaria were Byzantine chronicles. Chronicles are works of historiography that present world history. The Chronicle of George Amartol played a particularly important role in the development of original Russian chronicles and Russian chronography. Its compiler is a Byzantine monk. Amartol in Greek is a sinner; it is a traditional self-deprecating epithet for a monk.

No later than the 11th century. The Chronicle of Joanna Malala also became known in Rus' - it was valuable for ancient Russian historiographers and scribes primarily because it significantly complemented the Chronicle of George Amartol.

Stories. "The Tale of Akira the Wise." This story originated in Assyro-Babylonia in the 7th century. BC. This story is interesting as an action-packed work.

Apocrypha.(gr. apocrypha– hidden). In medieval writing, apocrypha became widespread - legends about characters from biblical history, but the plots differed from those contained in the biblical canonical books. Finally, apocryphal motifs could be included in works of traditional genres, for example, in hagiographies, for example, the popular apocrypha - “The Virgin’s Walk through the Torment”. Apocrypha was found in ancient Russian writing throughout its history.

The most ancient Russian lives: “Legend” and “Reading” about princes Boris and Gleb, “The Life of St. Theodosius of Pechersk” by Nestor.

Two main groups of hagiographic plots: some lives were “entirely devoted to the theme of an ideal Christian hero who left “worldly” life in order to earn “eternal” life (after death) through exploits, while the heroes of the other group of lives strive to justify by their behavior not only general Christian, but also the feudal ideal.