The genre appeared in Russian literature of the 17th century. Russian literature of the 17th century: transformation of the medieval system of genres and the emergence of new literary forms

It is the 17th century that is a transitional era in the development of Russian literature, when all this literature (as an integral system) undergoes extremely important changes, many researchers have noted. Among them are D. S. Likhachev, A. S. Demin, A. M. Panchenko, E. Malek, E. K. Romodanovskaya, L. A. Chernaya. They pointed to different aspects of the transition process. In the very general view this process can be represented, based on their work, something like this.

In the 17th century New characters appear in Russian literature, the very principle of depicting characters changes. The generalizing, generalizing tendency characteristic of medieval Russian literature until the 17th century is being replaced by an individualizing tendency. If previously the character of a work, as a rule, was a historical figure, now a fictional hero appears. At the same time we're talking about about a new type of hero, whose behavior is fundamentally different from the previous one: this hero is not passive, but “living” and active; If the ideal of vita contemplativa is more characteristic of previous literature, then this hero clearly gravitates towards vita activa. If earlier the attitude towards authenticity prevailed (after all, the miracles that the lives tell of were perceived as really happening), now more and more often the basis of the plot is fiction. This corresponds to the transformation of the genre system: elements that were previously absent in Russian literature appear. adventure novel, prose and poetic facets, parody, finally, lyrics (syllabic poetry) and theater. Many texts and

genres are borrowed from the West, especially from Poland; works are actively translated Western European literature- and not only Western European, but also, for example, ancient (say, Aesop's fables).

Under these conditions, the tasks and functions of literature also change: along with didactic literature, entertaining literature appears. The recreational function is characteristic of new genres that appeared in the 17th century, such as facetsia, chivalric romance, various genres parodic literature. Of course, it can be combined with the didactic: this is clearly visible in the example of the already mentioned Aesop's fables. A more complex example is some parodic works: the example is complex because there is still no unity in their interpretation. The concept according to which all Old Russian parodies are considered satirical works is most likely incorrect; however, some of them (for example, “The Kalyazin Petition” and “The Tale of Priest Sava”) still apparently represent satire - and, as is natural for satire, they are didactic, but they probably also perform a recreational function.

So, it was in the 17th century that a contrast between didactic literature and entertainment literature appeared in Russian literature - the “discourse of duty” and the “discourse of desire.” In any case, if texts that performed a recreational function most likely existed before, now texts appear for which this function is the leading one. Some contemporaries are aware of this fact. Here, for example, is one of the widely known and often quoted testimonies belonging to Ivan Begichev: he accuses his opponents of not having read any books of religious content - “except for the fabulous stories that are said about Bova the Prince and the spiritually beneficial things you imagine, The same is written about the baby, about the chicken and about the fox, and about other other such fabulous stories and ridiculous letters.” At the same time, here you can find evidence of how slowly the literary situation changed: some still attributed didactic meaning to even these works - hence the definition of “those you consider to be spiritually beneficial.”

But in the 18th century the literary situation is fundamentally different from both the 17th century and the earlier ancient Russian literature. Literary culture XVIII c., as we usually imagine it, is a secularized culture. Just like in literature Ancient Rus', teaching is valued here, but it is no longer associated with the authority of the church. It is the poet and writer who arrogates to himself the right to be a “teacher” of society. Thus, the situation of contrasting entertaining literature with didactic literature, which arose in the 17th century, remains (with the latter rated highly and the former low), but the second position is replaced by other texts: not confessional, but secular - while the role of “entertaining literature” continues perform the same works as before.

For literature of the 18th century (after Peter) and later - almost up to the present - the subject of interest of literary scholars is almost exclusively fiction, with a pronounced artistic attitude. Moreover, we are not even talking about all fiction, but almost exclusively about “high” literature, and, if possible, “classical” literature: the so-called. " popular literature"(and even the so-called "fiction" - according to the classification of V. E. Khalizev) most often is not considered worthy of the attention of a scientist. However, for “Old Russian” literature, the subject of literary criticism is defined differently. The so-called “grassroots” literature of the same 17th century is studied. (“The Tale of Frol Skobeev”, “The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn”, “The Tale of Ersha Ershovich”, “The Tale of Shemyakin court", "Kalyazin petition", etc.). However, something else is even more important: confessional literature is being studied, which, most likely, was not recognized by contemporaries as “fiction.” Lives become the subject of study by literary scholars, although, as noted above, for contemporaries, most likely, they were not something like fairy tales: what was said in them was considered true. Chronicles are studied - moreover, an artistic element is revealed in them, while historiographical works starting from the 18th century. - are not studied. Thus, the fundamental change in the literary situation during the transition from “Old Russian literature” to “Russian literature of the New Age,” which supposedly took place in the Petrine era, turns out to be largely a reflection of the specific relationship between the subject of literary medieval studies and the subject of the history of “classical” literature, determined by the characteristics of existing literary studies practitioner

2. The theme of love in the “Panaevsky” cycle of N. A. Nekrasov and the “Denisyevsky” cycle of F. I. Tyutchev

Nekrasov's love lyrics were dedicated to his only muse - Avdotya Yakovlevna Panaeva, whom 22-year-old Nekrasov met in 1842 at a poetry evening. She was the wife of the writer Ivan Panaev, with whom Nekrasov bought the Sovremennik magazine. Avdotya Panaeva was considered one of the most beautiful women in St. Petersburg at that time. The young F. M. Dostoevsky was in love with the capital’s beauty, but he failed to achieve reciprocity. In addition, she was smart and was the hostess of a literary salon, which met in her husband's house. Her own literary talent attracted the young, but already popular Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Turgenev, Belinsky to the circle in the Panayevs' houses. She owns the widely known “Memoirs”.

At first, Panaeva also rejected twenty-six-year-old Nekrasov, who was also in love with her, which is why he almost committed suicide. During one of the trips of the Panaevs and Nekrasov to the Kazan province, Avdotya and Nikolai Alekseevich nevertheless confessed their feelings to each other. Upon their return, they began to live in a civil marriage in the Panaevs’ apartment, together with Avdotya’s legal husband (1846). This union lasted almost 16 years, until Panaev’s death. All this caused public condemnation - they said about Nekrasov that he lives in someone else’s house, loves someone else’s wife and at the same time makes scenes of jealousy for his legal husband. During this period, even many friends turned away from him. But, despite this, Nekrasov and Panaeva were happy. Nekrasov created one of his best poetic cycles - the so-called “Panaev cycle” (they wrote and edited much of this cycle together). The co-authorship of Nekrasov and Stanitsky (pseudonym of Avdotya Yakovlevna) belongs to several novels of short stories and stories that have had great success (the novel “ Dead Lake", the story "The Talnikov Family"). Probably in 1847, when Panaeva became Nekrasov’s common-law wife, they wrote joint romance"Three countries of the world."

In 1849, Avdotya Yakovlevna gave birth to a boy from Nekrasov, but he did not live long. At this time, Nekrasov himself fell ill. It is believed that strong attacks of anger and mood swings are associated with the death of the child, which later led to a break in their relationship with Avdotya. In 1862, Ivan Panaev died, and soon Avdotya Panaeva left Nekrasov. However, Nekrasov remembered her until the end of his life and, when drawing up his will, mentioned her in it.

The “Panaev cycle” reflects many episodes and “incidents” from the lives of the lyrical heroes. In the foreground here is psychologism, the depiction of the feelings and experiences of the characters. For Nekrasov, love is an earthly feeling, so the relationship between loving people quite complex. The poems show how the relationship between two loving people is gradually changing, becoming more intense and difficult.

In Nekrasov, love appears in a complex interweaving of the beautiful, the sublime and the mundane. In Nekrasov, the lyrical heroine always exists next to the hero - in his memories and dialogues with her - not just as an ideal, but as a living image.

Motives for the quarrel: “If, tormented by rebellious passion...”, “You and I are stupid people...”; parting, separation “So this is a joke? My dear...”, “Farewell”; their premonition

“I don’t like your irony...”; memories “Yes, our life flowed rebelliously...”, “Long ago, rejected by you...”, letters “Burnt letters”

Speaking about Nekrasov’s cycle, one cannot do without comparing it with Tyutchev’s “Denisiev” cycle, since they are united general theme- love and suffering lyrical hero. Like Tyutchev, Nekrasov’s love is almost never happy.

The “Denisevsky” cycle is called Tyutchev’s poems, caused by a deep and strong feeling for Elena Alexandrovna Denisyeva. He first saw her in 1850. She was the niece of the inspector Smolny Institute and its graduate, where Tyutchev’s two daughters studied. When Tyutchev met Deniseva, she was twenty-four years old. Their relationship lasted

fourteen years before her death and attracted public condemnation. Tyutchev did not break with his official family. Harsh accusations fell exclusively on Denisyeva. The doors of those houses where she had previously been a welcome guest were forever closed in front of her. Her father disowned her.

The “Denisevsky” cycle is associated with the novel in terms of its depth of psychologism, because it clearly shows a novel-type plot: the poems mention acquaintance, correspondence, the birth of a child, the death of the heroine, the hero’s visit to the cemetery; the heroes’ addresses to each other are reproduced; some poems are written from the perspective of women (“Don’t say: he still loves me as before...” The similarity of the “Denisyev” cycle with the novel is not accidental, because the time when these poems were created was the heyday of the Russian classical novel (similar features are also characteristic of Nekrasov’s love lyrics) .

The general philosophical nature of Tyutchev's lyrics is manifested in the fact that even by their nature he presents the most individual, most intimate experiences as the common experience of humanity. Hero of Tyutchev love lyrics can say about himself “we” (meaning “we are people”): “Oh, how murderously we love!”

The cycle opens with the poem “More than once have you heard the confession...” (1851); it closes with “There are two forces - two fatal forces...” (1869). If the first is a subtle, intimate confession addressed to a beloved woman, then in the last, written eighteen years later, there is a tough challenge to society, inhuman human court, who passed sentence on the “proudly young force”, which desperately entered into an “unequal battle” with threats, abuse and slander. The image of the lyrical heroine of Denisiev’s cycle changed over the years, but the bottomless feeling that she carried within herself remained unchanged. The poet compared his beloved to an unruly wave that is not afraid of anything. One of the most realistic poems in the cycle is “All day long she lay in oblivion...”, which “with frightening truth” tells about the passing of her beloved.

In the “Denisiev cycle,” love appears in various guises: as a spiritual feeling that elevates a person, as a powerful, blind passion, as a secret feeling, a certain element of the night.

EXAMINATION Ticket 6

Changes in public life predetermined the beginning of a new stage in development literature. It was literature, like no other sphere of culture, that most fully and vividly reflected the contradictions of social life, all those new trends and phenomena that characterize the development of all culture in

There was, in the words of Academician D.S. Likhachev, “a significant social expansion of literature.” The written word began to serve the social lower classes, whose interests and moods were reflected not only in folklore, but also in written literature. This formed and developed a democratic, secular direction in it, i.e. led to the “secularization” of literature.

The gap between folklore and writing was bridged. It was by the 17th century. include the first recordings of works of oral folk art - historical songs, epics, proverbs, spells. Oral folk art with its anti-feudal and anti-church motives was the basis for the development of the democratic trend in literature, it had a noticeable impact on written literature both ideologically and artistically.

The influence of folk art on literature was expressed in the convergence literary language with a living folk language, in the emergence of new genres, and above all - democratic satire, in the enrichment of the arsenal of artistic means.

An important step in the development of literature, indicating a break with medieval traditions and canons, was transition from historical literary heroes to fictional ones, towards the creation of generalized literary images. The heroes of literary works were not outstanding historical figures, but representatives of democratic strata of the population, ordinary people from the townspeople and peasants, from the lower strata of the nobility. Like all culture, the literature of this time is characterized by the discovery of the value of the human personality, the diversity, complexity and inconsistency of human characters. It was not the exploits of the “pleasers of God,” but the lives and deeds of ordinary people that began to attract more and more attention from the reader.

Traditional forms could not accommodate new content without undergoing significant deformation. This also applies to such a stable genre of medieval literature as hagiography, which gradually turns into biographical story. An example is “The Tale of Uliana Osorina,” written by the Murom nobleman Druzhina Osorin, the son of Uliana. This is the first biography of a noblewoman in Russian literature. The author creates the image of an energetic and intelligent Russian woman, an exemplary wife and housewife. And although the story still uses stereotypes of the hagiographic genre, in general it is dominated by everyday narrative elements.

An outstanding monument of Russian literature has become autobiographical story one of the leaders and ideologists of the Old Believers, Archpriest Avvakum "Life". Avvakum the writer differs sharply from Avvakum the apologist of the Old Believers. This work is conservative in its main idea, but deeply innovative in its artistic form, unique in his individual style of writing. A passionate defender of antiquity, a fierce opponent of everything new, who opposed realistic trends in painting, against secular education and the spread of scientific knowledge, Habakkuk in literary activity showed extraordinary innovation, abandoning the conventions and traditions of medieval writing. Turning to the traditional genre of hagiography, he destroyed its ossified forms, becoming the founder of a new genre - confessional autobiography. He boldly introduced popular vernacular into the book language. Realistic image the ups and downs of his own life, Russian life, figurative language, passionate denunciation of social injustice, arbitrariness of authorities and church orders - all this made Avvakum’s work one of the most striking and significant monuments of Russian democratic literature.

In the literature of the 17th century. a new genre emerged and developed - democratic satire, reflecting the mood masses and denouncing the injustice of the social system. The anti-feudal orientation brought satire closer to the oral folk art, from where she drew plots and artistic and visual means. In turn, many satirical stories became the property of folklore.

Various aspects of the life of feudal-serf society and important state institutions were subjected to merciless denunciation. Thus, in “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court” and “The Tale of Ersha Ershovich” the order of the feudal court with its chicanery, red tape, corrupt judges and biased decisions was exposed. In "Service to the Tavern", written in the form of a parody of a church service, the state system of soldering the people through the "tsar's tavern" is exposed. The parody “The ABC of a Naked and Poor Man,” which tells with caustic irony about the hard life of the urban poor, is distinguished by its social acuity. In “The Tale of Thomas and Erem,” noble children who are incapable of any work are ridiculed.

The object of satire was often the church, which indicated a decline in its authority mainly due to the unseemly behavior of clergy. The hypocrisy and greed of the clergy are castigated in “The Tale of the Chicken and the Fox” and “The Tale of Priest Sav and His Great Glory.” Monastic orders and morals are ridiculed in the Kalyazin Petition. In it, in the form of a petition to the bishop of Tver, the complaints of monks accustomed to a dissolute life are set out against the “dashing” archimandrite, who decided to demand compliance with the strict monastic rules. “The Tale of Hawk Moth” is particularly poignant, in which it wittily proves that Hawk Moth has no less rights to the “kingdom of heaven” than the “saints,” and the “saints” turn out to be no less sinners than Hawk Moth. Here there is already a skeptical attitude towards the official cult of saints.

The changes that took place in the consciousness, morality and life of people, the struggle between the “old” and the “new”, which permeated all spheres of personal and public life, were clearly reflected in everyday story. This turning point, when “the old customs went shaky,” became relevant topic relationships between old and young generations, "fathers and sons". ABOUT tragic fate young man, who tried to break with the old forms of family life, with Domostroevsky morality, is told in “The Tale of Woe-Misfortune.” The main conflict of the story is the clash of two worldviews: the older generation, who stood guard over traditional social and family morality, the old way of life, and younger generation, striving for independence, prone to initiative and personal activity. The author shows the doom of the hero, who cannot oppose anything to the traditional way of life, hallowed by centuries, except the desire to live according to his own will. As a result, he collapses and goes into a monastery. This reflected the Russian reality of the 18th century, when the old was still much stronger than the new and attempts to live differently ended tragically. The plot of the story echoes the Gospel parable of the prodigal son. However, the hero of the story, unlike the “prodigal son,” does not show repentance, and returning to parents' house with his old way of life, he prefers self-imprisonment in a monastery, the last and forced refuge.

The same theme of the conflict between the older and younger generations is revealed in “The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn.” As in “The Tale of Misfortune,” its hero is a merchant’s son who violated the precepts of antiquity and was punished for it. Finding himself far from his parents' home on business, Savva Grudtsyn indulges in debauchery and begins to lead wild life and sells his soul to the devil. Fleeing from his father's wrath, he flees the city, ends up among the soldiers, and, with the help of the devil, performs miraculous feats during the Smolensk War. In the end, with the help of a miraculous icon, he is freed from the power of the devil, goes to a monastery and dies there. The story is distinguished by its entertaining intrigue and lively spoken language. It expressively describes real pictures of Russian life of that time: townsman life, the morals of the merchants, the events of the Russian-Polish war of 1632-1634, soldier life. Wide historical and household background, a large number characters, a depiction of the fate of a common man, a story about his love, experiences, mental struggle - all this allows modern researchers to consider this work one of the first Russian novels.

IN late XVII“The Tale of Frol Skobeev” appeared. Its distinguishing feature is the absence of religious didactics. The artistic nobleman Frol Skobeev, a rogue and an adventurer, does not disdain any means to achieve his own well-being, nothing is sacred to him, he does not even remember the Old Testament morality of his fathers. The spirit of a new era can already be felt in this. Energy, intelligence, everyday practicality - these are the qualities that lead the hero to achieve his goal. The story reflected what began in the second half of the 17th century. process of decline old nobility and the promotion of a new, energetic nobility.

New in literature was the appearance syllabic versification, based on the ordering of the number of syllables in a verse:

equal number of syllables per line, pause in the middle of the line and feminine rhyme, i.e. stress on penultimate syllable last word. The founder of Russian syllabic versification was Simeon of Polotsk. His poems are combined into two large collections - “Rhythmologion” and “Multi-colored Vertograd”. A significant part of them are panegyric poems dedicated to members royal family, as well as written about various events of court life. S. Polotsky also wrote satirical poems. The main thing in his work is the substantiation of the idea of ​​an enlightened monarchy. In 1680, S. Polotsky translated the psalter into poetry - “The Rhyming Psalter,” which was a great success among readers. Book for a long time used as training manual. S. Polotsky’s work was continued by his students Sylvester Medvedev and Karion Istomin.

Became popular translated fiction, her character changed: works with an entertaining plot attracted more and more attention - a chivalric romance, a burgher's everyday and picaresque short story, an adventure story, humorous stories and jokes. This literature was subjected to significant processing, sometimes filled with purely Russian content and experiencing strong influence Russian folklore. Some works, having turned into oral tales, became the property of folklore.

Such works included “The Tale of Bova the Prince,” which originated from a French chivalric romance and attracted readers with an adventurous plot close to a fairy tale. Other knightly novels were also translated: “The Story of the Brave Knight Peter of the Golden Keys and the Beautiful Princess of Naples Magilena” - from a French knightly courtly novel. XV century; “The Tale of Vasily Goldhair” came from the Czech Republic; "The Tale of Otgon the Caesar of Rome" and others were translated from Polish. Central theme All these works had the theme of earthly love, constancy and fidelity.

“The Tale of Eruslan Lazarevich,” which came from the East and dates back to Ferdowsi’s poem “Shah-name,” became very popular. The “Story of the Seven Wise Men”, which came from Poland, dates back to the ancient Indian legend; it consists of 15 short stories united by a single plot frame. Collections of moralizing stories "Roman Acts" and "The Great Mirror", a collection of anecdotes and sayings of ancient philosophers "Apothegmata" were translated from Polish. The repertoire of translated literature testified to the changing interests and tastes of the Russian reader.

Russian literature of the 17th century was a new stage in the development of literature, new genres appeared.

The 17th century was a turning point for the history of the Russian state. For a hundred years, the country has passed a difficult and thorny path from the “time of troubles”, when the very idea of ​​Russia remaining independent was under threat. big question, before “standing on its hind legs” by the reformer king when choosing a new path of development.

All these changes are reflected in literature. New genres arose, new plots were born, new heroes appeared.

Journalistic literature

Despite the fact that the term journalism itself appeared much later, it is in this genre that one can define those letters that were sent to Russian cities and monasteries. The letters contained speeches by Russian patriots, such as Patriarch Hermogenes and his associates.

These letters contained discussions about the current situation of the state. They contained fiery calls to fight against foreign invaders and traitors. They described the exploits of the saints who patronize Russia and ordinary Russian people.

It is reliably known that after one of these letters a militia was assembled, led by Minin and Pozharsky, finally driving the Poles out of Russian soil. In addition, stories of patriotic content appeared - about statehood, about strengthening royal dynasty. Such as, “A new story about the glorious Russian kingdom and the great state of Moscow.”

Historical story

Works began to appear not only about the specific event that took place, but also about the people who participated in it. The characters in these works are not necessarily kings and governors, but also ordinary people whose names cannot be found in the Chronicles. An example of this genre is “The Tale of the Azov Seat of the Don Cossacks.”

And in another historical work of the 17th century, “The Tale of the Beginning of Moscow,” a romantic, or as they would say now, love plot already appears. The author talks about personal life characters, their relationships, experiences, feelings. Thus, the prerequisites for fiction appear, which is read not for knowledge, but for pleasure.

Everyday genre

The Life, familiar to the Russian reader, is being transformed and turned into an everyday genre, although these are still clearly expressed folklore works. Only now the author does not hesitate to narrate in an autobiographical manner or make the main character a specific person, or even a woman, even a noblewoman.

“The Tale of Juliania Lazarevskaya” is at the same time a historical, everyday, lyrical and, in some ways, an adventure work. And although here the heroine is not a fictional person, the author allows himself to attribute purely speculative character traits to her in order to strengthen her moral image.

The genre of everyday stories allows you to describe not only historical, but also fictional characters, who can be awarded the character traits necessary for a more entertaining plot. A very interesting example of this genre is “The Tale of Woe and Misfortune.” This work intertwines folklore, journalism, and history, and ultimately typical fiction or work of art. By the way, his plot is about finding his own path in life as a young man, is still relevant today.

Satire

For the first time, works of purely satirical content appeared. The authors allow themselves to expose stupidity, hypocrisy, and ignorance in all layers of society, without making concessions to the clergy. “The Tale of the Shemyakin Court” can be recommended as mandatory reading for modern arbiters of justice.

LITERATURE OF THE 17TH CENTURY

The 17th century was destined to continue and develop the trends emerging in the literature of the Russian Pre-Renaissance era. It was this century, according to D.S. Likhachev, that “took over the function of the Renaissance, but took over special conditions and in difficult circumstances, and therefore he himself was “special”, unrecognized in his meaning.”

This was the century when “firmly rooted for six centuries literary genres easily got along with new forms of literature: with syllabic poetry, with translated adventure novels, with theater plays, which first appeared in Rus' under Alexei Mikhailovich, with the first recordings folklore works, with parodies and satires."

A characteristic feature of the literature of the 17th century. was its division into official, “high” and democratic literature.

Official literature of the first decades of the 17th century. maintains an outwardly direct connection with literary traditions last century. But the most important factor, which determined what was new in its development was historical reality itself. Rus' experienced perhaps the most difficult period its history, which received in historiography the expressive name of the Time of Troubles. The authors of historical narratives, which appeared in considerable numbers at this time, are in confusion, seeing the “troubles” that came “to the entire glorious Russian kingdom.” But confusion does not lead to mental relaxation, does not take them away from exciting political and military problems; against, literary works of this time are unusually temperamental, journalistic, their authors persistently search for the causes of the disasters that befell the country. They are no longer satisfied with the traditional explanation of medieval historiography that God is “punishing” the country “for our sins”; they are looking for the perpetrators of disasters, looking closely at their contemporaries.

It is in the works telling about the events of the Time of Troubles that the discovery of human character occurs in all its complexity, inconsistency and variability. In old historiography, for example in chronicles, of course, changes were noted in the way of thinking and in the actions of one or another historical person. But such changes were only recorded, the chronicler rejoiced at the correction of the sinner, was indignant at the corruption of the righteous, but did not try to explain this evolution individual traits the character of the person. Writers of the 17th century already well understand the connection between action and character, the complexity and variability of the characters themselves.

IN historical works early XVII V. the authors tried to comprehend what was happening, leave a memory of it for posterity, and in some cases justify and explain their own political preferences or actions.

In the literature of the 17th century. the repertoire of fictional monuments of the 15th century is being restored: numerous lists“Serbian Alexandria”, “The Tale of Dracula”, “The Tale of Basarga”, the translated collection of fables “Stephanit and Ikhnilat”, “Tales of the Indian Kingdom”, etc.

This cannot be explained only by the better preservation of later manuscripts of the 17th century; Undoubtedly, the lifting of the “censorship ban” on fictional “unhelpful” stories has an effect. In addition, these monuments find their literary environment among new wave translations of the 17th century, such as translations of knightly novels (“The Tale of Beauvais”, “The Tale of Bruntsvik”, “The Tale of Apollonius of Tire” and the like), collections of entertaining short stories (“Facetius”) or no less entertaining pseudo-historical legends ( collection of "Roman Acts").

New editions of “The Tale of Akira”, “The Tale of Troy”, and “The Deeds of Devgenia” are being created.

Works of the 17th century, even those that can be attributed to him official literature, testify to the emancipation of genres and heroes, which we noted in “The Tale of Basarga” or in “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia” - the latter can only formally be attributed to the genre of hagiography.

Equally different from the traditional genre are the tales of the establishment of a monastery and “The Tale of the Tverskoy Otroch Monastery.”

"The Tale of the Tver Otroch Monastery." The story tells how a certain youth (here in the meaning - servant, junior warrior) of the Tver prince Yaroslav Yaroslavich Grigory fell in love with the beautiful Ksenia, the daughter of the village sexton. The young man asks her father to consent to their marriage, but he is clearly embarrassed: his daughter’s marriage to Gregory seems too unequal to him. However, Ksenia advises her father to accept Gregory's offer. The final preparations for the wedding are underway; The wedding should take place in the church of the village where the bride lives.

Meanwhile, the prince, as young and handsome as his favorite servant, goes hunting. By chance, following his beloved falcon that flew away from him, he ends up in the village where the wedding of Gregory and Ksenia is being prepared. The prince enters the bride’s house, where she is sitting with her groom and guests, and suddenly Ksenia announces to those gathered: “Rise up, all of you, and go out to meet your great prince, and my groom.” Then she turns to Gregory, astonished as everyone else, with the words: “Get out of me and give a place to your prince, for he is greater than you and my fiancé, and you were my matchmaker.” The prince, seeing the beauty of Xenia (“as if the rays from her face were shining,” the author will say), “was inflamed ... in heart and confused in thought”; on the same day he married Ksenia in a village church. The distressed youth leaves his master. After three years of wandering, Gregory, with the help of the prince, founded near Tver monastery, where he was tonsured under the name Guria.

Like Fevronia, Ksenia arranges her own fate: it is she who refuses Gregory and declares the prince her fiancé. But D.S. Likhachev is also right when he asserts that “Ksenia, in fact, is a passive heroine. This beauty doesn’t love anyone, her love is both betrothed and etiquette.” This contradictory image of Xenia clearly reflects the complex interweaving of old and new in the literature of the 17th century.

Indeed, on the one hand, we undoubtedly have new features: the genre is emancipated - the story combines the theme of earthly love and the theme of the creation of a monastery, the image is emancipated literary hero: the wise maiden Ksenia becomes the prince’s wife; finally, the driving force of the plot is love triangle. But on the other hand, Ksenia emanates religious exaltation. She does not act from selfish or sensual motives, but obeys “God’s command”; the prince on the eve of his unexpected wedding sees a prophetic dream, he ends up in the village not entirely by accident: he was brought by a miracle, a hunting falcon, which was never given into the prince’s hands. The falcon sat down on the church, despite the calls of the prince’s servants “without thinking of flying to him, but getting better and cleaning himself with his wings.” When the prince, after the wedding, leaves the church with Ksenia, the falcon, “seeing his master walking with his wife, sitting on the church, began to tremble, as if having fun and looking at the prince,” then, at the prince’s call, he flew down and “sat on his right hand.” and looking at both, the prince and the princess.” This miracle is undoubtedly connected with God's will, which Xenia refers to; Let us recall that the falcon is a symbol of the groom, and it was not for nothing that the prince saw prophetic dream like a falcon, “having scattered the whole flock of birds, he caught a dove with a fiercely shining beauty, more than gold, and brought it” to the prince.

"The Tale of Frol Skobeev." Plutish novella of the 17th century. reaches its perfection in “The Tale of Frol Skobeev.” Unlike the poor loser of “The Tale of Shemyakin’s Court,” Frol, a petty official (he is a clerk or a sneaker who makes a living by correspondence and drafting legal papers and managing the affairs of his clients), persistently, by any means, arranges his destiny. He cunningly marries the daughter of the noble steward Nardin-Nashchokin, Annushka, and becomes the heir to the movable and immovable property of his father-in-law.

The adventurous story about Frol Skobeev is interesting to us not so much for the hero’s adventures: it marks a decisive rejection of all those conventions in the depiction of the characters, behavior and speech of the characters that so burdened, for example, the entertaining plot of “The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn”. Here the characters speak not in pompous bookish phrases and not in elegant but faceless remarks. fairy-tale heroes, but a language characteristic of people of a certain social status and certain characters. Let's give a small fragment from this story. Frol arrives with his wife Annushka to his father-in-law's house. After angry reproaches to his daughter and son-in-law, Nardin-Nashchokin sits down to dine with them, instructing the servants to answer all visitors: “There is no such time to see our steward, for that his son-in-law, with the thief and rogue Frolka, eats.” Already in this phrase the necessary psychological accents are placed.

After lunch, the following conversation takes place between the steward and Frol: “Well, you rogue, how are you going to live?” - “If you deign to know about me, there’s nothing more to do than go about your business.” - “Stop, you rogue, following a sneak! There is an estate, my patrimony, in Sinbirsky district, which according to the census consists of 300 households. Take care of yourself, you rogue, and live forever.” And Frol Skobeev bowed to his wife Annushka and offered thanks before him. “Well, rogue, don’t bow; “Go and handle it for yourself,” the steward impatiently ends the conversation.

The liveliness and naturalness of the dialogue and the entire scene are undeniable. But there is one more thing in the story that is noteworthy for literary development XVII V. detail: it is completely devoid of didacticism. The reader himself must decide with whom his sympathies will remain: with the rogue Frol or with the steward, wounded in his pride, deceived by his own daughter.

“The Tale of Frol Skobeev,” written, apparently, at the very beginning of the 18th century, was a kind of result of the development of the democratic short story.

Syllabic poetry of the 17th century. Simeon of Polotsk. The 17th century became the first century of Russian book poetry. The appeal to the new field of verbal art was extremely intense, so intense that by the end of the century the abundance of poets and the abundance of poetic production even leads to some devaluation of poetry. The idea was created that any topic, any subject could be expressed in “measured lines”... In the minds of Russian poets, the second half XVII V. there was no opposition between poetry and poetry.” At the beginning of the next century, Feofan Prokopovich will specifically emphasize that the function of poetry “ art depict human actions and artistically(emphasis added - O.T.)explain them for edification in life.”

(estimates: 1 , average: 5,00 out of 5)

The 17th century is a New era, when in many European countries and a bourgeois system was established in America. At this time, the civil development of the individual takes place, as well as the formation of national states.

English society experienced several bourgeois revolutions, only veiled as religious wars. That is, religion still made itself felt and had a huge influence on all aspects of human life, but at the same time new ideological factors of a new life began to appear. You can find this in books from the 17th century.

The literature of the 17th century is also interesting because it tells information about scientific discoveries. So, the telescope was invented, which proved the absence of God, because the Universe has no limitations. Medieval painting The world was destroyed, because now the Earth is not flat, there is no cozy firmament, space is a cold space without boundaries, and man himself has lost his exclusivity and has become a grain of sand in a huge world.

Books of the 17th century have one peculiarity - for the first time, genres were so clearly divided, having their own directions, differences and programs. At the same time, two directions can be traced in them - baroque and classicism. The first is absolute faith into the reality of the spiritual, and the second is the desire to adhere to the rules of the classicist doctrine. Classicism has been well described French writer Nicholas Boileau, so it was in France that he reached his peak.

Russian literature of the 17th century was quite gloomy, since the country was experiencing far from the brightest and peaceful times. The writers of that time covered all this in their works.

Foreign and domestic works from that era, we have compiled it into one list so that you can familiarize yourself with best works and understand how people lived then, what was happening in the countries. Books are the best source of information about past centuries.