Forms of manifestation of folklore consciousness. What does the ancient Russian epic hide? Works of Russian epic
- 87.50 KbRussian heroic epic. Epics
Relevance of the topic: show how the heroic epic of the times of Kievan Rus is represented, what its features are, and also introduce the most famous works of the heroic epic of Kievan Rus.
Of great importance in Kyiv culture of the X-XII centuries. belongs to folklore. Songs, epics, proverbs, lamentations and parables (at funerals and weddings), which lived for a long time in the memory of the people, were passed down from generation to generation, and with the advent of writing, they began to be written down. Particularly noteworthy is the heroic epic epic, in which the people glorify their defenders in the form of kind, strong and selflessly loving heroes. The heroic epic expresses the interests of the whole people and plays an extremely important role in the formation of the national consciousness of each people.
This epic has several cycles.
1. The cycle of heroic epics is dedicated to the plowman Mikula Selyaninovich in the squad of Oleg Svyatoslavich with the Varangians.
2. The cycle of heroic epics is dedicated to Prince Vladimir the Red Sun, who did a lot for defense against nomads. The main characters were Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich.
3. The cycle glorified the struggle of Vladimir Monomakh with the Polovtsian khans.
Bylinas are a poetic heroic epic of Ancient Rus', reflecting the events of the historical life of the Russian people. The ancient name for epics in the Russian north is “old times”. The modern name of the genre – “epics” – was introduced in the first half of the 19th century by folklorist I.P. Sakharov based on the well-known expression from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - “epics of this time.”
The time of composition of epics is determined in different ways. Some scientists believe that this is an early genre that developed during the times of Kievan Rus (X-XI centuries), others - a late genre that arose in the Middle Ages, during the creation and strengthening of the Moscow centralized state. The genre of epics reached its greatest flourishing in the 17th–18th centuries, and by the 20th century it fell into oblivion.
Bylina, according to V.P. Anikin, these are “heroic songs that arose as an expression of the historical consciousness of the people in the East Slavic era and developed in the conditions of Ancient Rus'...”.
Bylinas reproduce the ideals of social justice and glorify Russian heroes as defenders of the people. They reveal social moral and aesthetic ideals, reflecting historical reality in images. In epics, the basis of life is combined with fiction. They have a solemn and pathetic tone, their style corresponds to the purpose of glorifying extraordinary people and majestic events of history.
The main characters of epics are heroes. They embody the ideal of a courageous person devoted to his homeland and people. The hero fights alone against hordes of enemy forces. Among the epics, a group of the most ancient stands out. These are the so-called epics about “elder” heroes, associated with mythology. The heroes of these works are the personification of unknown forces of nature associated with mythology. Such are Svyatogor and Volkhv Vseslavevich, Danube and Mikhailo Potyk.
In the second period of their history, the ancient heroes were replaced by heroes of modern times - Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. These are the heroes of the so-called Kyiv cycle of epics. Cyclization refers to the unification of epic images and plots around individual characters and places of action. This is how the Kiev cycle of epics, associated with the city of Kiev, developed.
Most epics depict the world of Kievan Rus. The heroes go to Kyiv to serve Prince Vladimir, and they protect him from enemy hordes. The content of these epics is predominantly heroic and military in nature.
Another major center of the ancient Russian state was Novgorod. Epics of the Novgorod cycle - everyday, novelistic. The heroes of these epics were merchants, princes, peasants, guslars (Sadko, Volga, Mikula, Vasily Buslaev, Blud Khotenovich).
The world depicted in epics is the entire Russian land. So, Ilya Muromets from the Bogatyrskaya outpost sees high mountains, green meadows, dark forests. The epic world is “bright” and “sunny”, but it is threatened by enemy forces: dark clouds, fog, thunderstorms are approaching, the sun and stars are dimming from countless enemy hordes. This is a world of opposition between good and evil, light and dark forces. In it, heroes fight against the manifestation of evil and violence. Without this struggle, the epic peace is impossible.
Each hero has a certain, dominant character trait. Ilya Muromets personifies strength; he is the most powerful Russian hero after Svyatogor. Dobrynya is also a strong and brave warrior, a snake fighter, but also a hero-diplomat. Prince Vladimir sends him on special diplomatic missions. Alyosha Popovich personifies ingenuity and cunning. “He won’t take it by force, but by cunning,” they say about him in epics. Monumental images of heroes and grandiose achievements are the fruit of artistic generalization, the embodiment in one person of the abilities and strength of a people or social group, an exaggeration of what actually exists, that is, hyperbolization and idealization. The poetic language of epics is solemnly melodious and rhythmically organized. His special artistic means - comparisons, metaphors, epithets - reproduce pictures and images that are epically sublime, grandiose, and when depicting enemies - terrible, ugly.
In epics, fabulous miracles are performed: the reincarnation of characters, the revival of the dead, werewolves. They contain mythological images of enemies and fantastic elements, but the fantasy is different from that of a fairy tale. It is based on folk historical ideas. The famous folklorist of the 19th century A.F. Hilferding wrote:
“When a person doubts that a hero can carry a forty-pound club or kill an entire army on the spot, the epic poetry in him is killed. And many signs convinced me that the northern Russian peasant singing epics, and the vast majority of those who listen to him, certainly believe in the truth of the miracles that are depicted in the epic. The epic preserved historical memory. Miracles were perceived as history in the life of the people.”
There are many historically reliable signs in the epics: descriptions of details, ancient weapons of warriors (sword, shield, spear, helmet, chain mail). They glorify Kyiv-grad, Chernigov, Murom, Galich. Other ancient Russian cities are named. Events also unfold in Ancient Novgorod. They indicate the names of some historical figures: Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh. These princes were united in the popular imagination into one collective image of Prince Vladimir - “Red Sun”.
There is a lot of fantasy and fiction in epics. But fiction is poetic truth. The epics reflected the historical conditions of life of the Slavic people: the aggressive campaigns of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians in Rus', the destruction of villages full of women and children, the plunder of wealth. Later, in the 13th–14th centuries, Rus' was under the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars, which is also reflected in epics. During the years of people's trials, they instilled love for their native land. It is no coincidence that the epic is a heroic folk song about the feat of the defenders of the Russian land.
However, epics depict not only the heroic deeds of heroes, enemy invasions, battles, but also everyday human life in its social and everyday manifestations and historical conditions. This is reflected in the cycle of Novgorod epics. In them, the heroes are noticeably different from the epic heroes of the Russian epic. The epics about Sadko and Vasily Buslaev include not just new original themes and plots, but also new epic images, new types of heroes who do not know other epic cycles. Novgorod heroes, unlike the heroes of the heroic cycle, do not perform feats of arms. This is explained by the fact that Novgorod escaped the Horde invasion; Batu’s hordes did not reach the city. However, the Novgorodians could not only rebel (V. Buslaev) and play the gusli (Sadko), but also fight and win brilliant victories over the conquerors from the West.
One of the most poetic and fabulous epics of the Novgorod cycle is the epic “Sadko”. V.G. Belinsky defined the epic “as one of the pearls of Russian folk poetry, the poetic apotheosis of Novgorod.” Sadko is a poor psaltery player who became rich thanks to skillful playing of the gusli and the patronage of the Sea King. As a hero, he expresses infinite strength and endless prowess. Sadko loves his land, his city, his family. Therefore, he refuses the countless riches offered to him and returns home.
The epics were created in tonic (also called epic, folk) verse. In works created in tonic verse, the poetic lines may have a different number of syllables, but there should be a relatively equal number of stresses. In epic verse, the first stress, as a rule, falls on the third syllable from the beginning, and the last stress on the third syllable from the end.
Epic tales are characterized by a combination of real images that have a clear historical meaning and are conditioned by reality (the image of Kyiv, the capital Prince Vladimir), with fantastic images (the Serpent Gorynych, the Nightingale the Robber). But the leading images in epics are those generated by historical reality.
The epic usually begins with a beginning that determines the place and time of action. This is followed by an exposition in which the hero of the work is highlighted, most often using the technique of contrast.
The image of the hero is at the center of the entire narrative. The epic greatness of the image of the epic hero is created by revealing his noble feelings and experiences; the qualities of the hero are revealed in his actions.
Tripleness or trinity in epics is one of the main depiction techniques (there are three heroes at the heroic outpost, the hero makes three trips - “Three trips of Ilya”, Sadko is not invited to the feast three times by the Novgorod merchants, he casts lots three times, etc. .). All these elements (threefold persons, threefold action, verbal repetitions) are present in all epics. Hyperboles used to describe the hero and his feat also play a large role in them. The description of the enemies (Tugarin, Nightingale the Robber), as well as the description of the strength of the warrior-hero, are hyperbolic. There are fantastic elements in this.
In the main narrative part of the epic, the techniques of parallelism, stepwise narrowing of images, and antithesis are widely used.
The question of the relationship between the epic epic and historical reality deserves special attention (the so-called “problem of historicism of the Russian epic”), which caused heated debate in both the 19th and 20th centuries (especially between historians and philologists).
The founder of Russian historical science, V.N. Tatishchev, wrote about epics in the 1730s: “Although they are not folded in such an order that they can be taken for history, however, a lot can be done in the lack of history from them, something to explain and in addition consume." However, later, neglecting Tatishchev’s warning, some historians too straightforwardly and unambiguously “tied” epic texts to the data of written and archaeological monuments, believing, like, for example, the Soviet historian Academician B. D. Grekov, that “epic is history, told by the people themselves." However, we must understand that the heroic epic, due to the peculiarities of its “folding”, does not reflect historical events, but transforms them; the song-epic memory of the people is not a volume of chronicles standing on a shelf; it does not preserve the deeds of the past exactly, but represents a people’s understanding of history, a recreation of a model of the structure of society and the state, and, passed on for centuries from mouth to mouth, changes, hiding the historical the original foundation under later layers. Here
Folklorists of various scientific schools have developed several basic options for solving the problem of historicism of epics. Here is how they are presented by Professor F. M. Selivanov: “1) A historical event is layered with separate realities on an already existing (mythological, borrowed, book) plot; 2) the event depicted in the epic was inevitably obscured by later and multiple historical layers, which makes it difficult or impossible to search for the original content; 3) the initial response to the event was carried out in works of a different genre (song of praise, legend, legend), the content of which was absorbed by the epic.” (Selivanov, With. 29). From the third position it also follows that the epics themselves, in the form in which they are familiar to us, developed later than the times of Kievan Rus - already in the era of appanage principalities and the Tatar-Mongol yoke, and during the times of the unified Old Russian state there were only the so-called. “protoforms” of future epics (chronicle songs that reflected the event that had just happened; songs of glory in honor of princes, sounded at feasts, and also, possibly, their opposite - songs of reproach; military lamentations performed at funerals and wakes), and not among the masses of the common people, but among the militia, surrounded by the prince.
It was precisely the important role that epics began to play in the national liberation struggle, the revival of the Russian state after a foreign yoke, that ensured them such a long life in the oral tradition - they outlived the Kievan Rus glorified by them for a whole millennium
Description of work
Relevance of the topic: to show how the heroic epic of the times of Kievan Rus is represented, what its features are, and also to introduce the most famous works of the heroic epic of Kievan Rus.
Of great importance in Kyiv culture of the X-XII centuries. belongs to folklore. Songs, epics, proverbs, lamentations and parables (at funerals and weddings), which lived for a long time in the memory of the people, were passed down from generation to generation, and with the advent of writing, they began to be written down. Particularly noteworthy is the heroic epic epic, in which the people glorify their defenders in the form of kind, strong and selflessly loving heroes. The heroic epic expresses the interests of the whole people and plays an extremely important role in the formation of the national consciousness of each people.
Russian folk epic
oral epic works heroic character. Basic genres - epics and legends. U. refers to one of the c. rus. epic storytelling. The first recordings of epic works. made in the 18th century, they were first published in the collection. "Ancient Russian poems collected by Kirsha Danilov" (Danilov Kirsha). Basic Russian stories epics recorded in different forms in U.: “Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets”, “Healing of Ilya”, “Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich”, “Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin”, “Dobrynya Nikitich and the Serpent”, “Why did the heroes transfer to the Holy Rus'" and some others. Ur. The traditions of epic storytelling are distinguished by certain specific features. The most recorded in the U. later the performance of epics to the accompaniment of the gusli - in the South. U. and in the bass. R. Vishers. Rus. The epics were adopted by the Komi-Permyaks and were partially performed in classical language. language In the legends about the origin of the Polyud and Vetlan stones, there was a contamination of the plots of toponymic legends and Russian. epics, when the conflict develops between Ilya Muromets and Vetlan. Until the end of the 1980s, folklorists recorded the presentation of epic stories or their fairy-tale adaptations.
Lit.: Berkh V. Travels to the cities of Cherdyn and Solikamsk to find historical antiquities; Beloretsky G. The guslar storyteller in the Ural region // Russian wealth, 1902. No. 11; Kosvintsev G.N. Epics recorded in the city of Kungur, Perm province // Ethnographic Review, 1899. No. 4; Onchukov N.E. From Ural folklore // Fairytale Commission of the State Russian Geographical Society. L., 1928.
Shumov K.E.
Ural historical encyclopedia. - Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of History and Archeology. Ekaterinburg: Academbook. Ch. ed. V. V. Alekseev. 2000 .
See what “Russian folk epic” is in other dictionaries:
EPOS- (Greek from ero to say) works of epic poetry. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. EPOS [gr. epos word, story, song] lit. narrative literature, one of the three main types... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Epic- This term has other meanings, see Epic (meanings). Epic (ancient Greek ἔπος “word”, “narration”) is a heroic narrative about the past, containing a holistic picture of people’s life and presenting in a harmonious way ... ... Wikipedia
Russia. Russian language and Russian literature: History of Russian literature- The history of Russian literature, for the convenience of viewing the main phenomena of its development, can be divided into three periods: I from the first monuments to the Tatar yoke; II until the end of the 17th century; III to our time. In reality, these periods are not sharply...
Epics- The data in this article is given as of the end of the 19th century. You can help by updating the information in the article... Wikipedia
Bylina- “Bogatyrs” Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich (Painting by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1881 1898) Russian folk epic songs about the exploits of heroes. The basis of the plot of the epic is some heroic event or remarkable... ... Wikipedia
Song- 1. Definition. 2. Poetics and language of song. 3. The sound side of the song. 4. Social functions of the song. 5. Songs of various social groups. 6. The existence of the song. 7. Life of a song. “Folk” and “art” songs. 8. Key points in learning a song.… … Literary encyclopedia
Epics- B. constitute one of the most remarkable phenomena of Russian folk literature; by its epic calm, richness of detail, lively color, distinctness of the characters of the depicted persons, variety of mythical, historical and everyday life... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron
Azbelev, Sergey Nikolaevich- Sergey Nikolaevich Azbelev Date of birth: April 17, 1926 (1926 04 17) (86 years old) Place of birth: Leningrad Country ... Wikipedia
List of concepts- List of concepts containing the word “Russian” Contents 1 Classic concepts 2 Foreign concepts 3 New concepts ... Wikipedia
Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic- Yakutia. As part of the RSFSR. Formed on April 27, 1922. Located in the north of Eastern Siberia, in the river basin. Lena, Yana, Indigirka and in the lower reaches of Kolyma. In the north it is washed by the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea. Yaroslavl includes Novosibirsk... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Books
- Russian folk epic. Goslitizdat. 1947 Hard, embossed binding. Enlarged format. The summary text of the Russian folk epic offered to the reader is composed of options taken from the following collections: 1.…
From the very beginning of its discovery, the epic was considered a purely book and not a folklore genre. In fact, researchers treated it as a recording of some ancient historical events that had come down to us: the study of, say, the Homeric epic has always been guided by the findings of everyday historical realities in it.
“The Homeric epic was perceived as a certain history of Ancient Greece in a certain period of its time. Actually, the subsequent discovery of the European epic - this is both the “Song of the Nibelungs” and “The Song of My Side” - was studied in a similar way. Not as folklore and only as a certain book culture.”
Nikita Petrov
The discovery of the oral, so-called living epic happened only in the 19th century - including in Russia. In the middle of the 19th century, the exiled ethnographer Pavel Nikolaevich Rybnikov found himself in the Russian North - near the shores of Lake Onega. There he recorded about a hundred stories featuring strange characters - Prince Vladimir, Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich, Vaska Buslaev, Vaska the Drunkard and others.
“It was so surprising that this region was immediately called the Iceland of the Russian epic, since Icelandic sagas had recently been translated into Russian. But since the Icelandic sagas are still more history than folklore, the epics were perceived in a similar way.”
Nikita Petrov
To determine the genre of this find from the point of view of folkloristics, several things should be understood. Firstly, this is a fairly large epic, about a thousand lines, that you need to hold in your head. Secondly, the text is not told, but sung. And the third important aspect is the audience. The entire audience of the narrator knew the plot of the epic song and perceived it as a reliable event. It was this aspect—the audience and the focus on authenticity—that determined further trends in the study of the genre, which developed into the so-called historical school.
The followers of this school had a rather original approach to the study of epics: they tried to see in them echoes of ancient history, paying attention to the coincidence of toponyms, geographical names and names.
“No one will deny that in the epics there really is some kind of Kyiv. This Kyiv has streets and alleys. When Ilya Muromets beats an unfaithful force, he takes a club or an oak tree and puts down this very force. But he puts it in the streets and alleys. The understanding that the epic was created not in a peasant environment, but in an urban one, also led to the study of epics as a historical genre.”
Nikita Petrov
One example of the erroneous method of the historical school is an attempt to correlate the plot about the death of the giant hero Svyatogor with the funeral ritual of the Slavs, and his name with the specific burial place of a specific warrior who once existed.
“Svyatogor lies down in a huge tomb, and then it turns out that the coffin is just for him. A lid appears out of nowhere and slams shut. Ilya Muromets is trying to pull out his new brother-in-law, but nothing works - there are iron hoops around the coffin. It is important for us that Svyatogor died in the coffin intended for him. Scientists of the historical school, of course, are looking for the necessary details in this plot, they turn to archaeological data - and it turns out that in the 10th century in Rus' this type of log tombs was indeed very popular. And it is quite logical from the point of view of a historian who has archaeological skills and knowledge to assume that this plot is nothing more than a generalized reflection of the burial rite of the Rus in the 10th century.
Some go even further. They take a piece, such as the Svyatogorov cross, and find literal matches. That is, in one of the tombs there really is a skeleton, a horse and a pectoral cross. And they say that it was this one specific event that ended up in the epic. But here, of course, a number of questions arise. It is not very clear how this could happen? Why weren’t other specific burials included in the epic?”
Nikita Petrov
Comparative folkloristics interprets the plot completely differently and finds completely different coincidences. When different epic traditions are compared, the idea of a literal correlation between the plot and a specific historical event disappears. In fact, such coincidences have a deeper connection, which is more likely at the level of pro-epic. For example, other nations also have a story about a giant who lay down in the tomb intended for him.
“There is a hypothesis that the Indo-Europeans had some pro-epic forms. Or this is a general trend - this is how the epic genre developed. If there is a giant, then he will definitely put the hero in his pocket.”
Nikita Petrov
Abstract
The relationship of the Russian epic with the historical process is complex and ambiguous. It is impossible to separate one from the other. But it would be wrong to correlate the plots of epics with real historical events. The epic captures from history only those fragments of reality that correspond to its epic scheme. These may be names or echoes of real events. But this is not enough to talk about the historicity of the epic.
“As you remember from historical sources, Prince Vladimir did quite a lot, but the epic says nothing about his merits - only about how he walks around the upper room in Kyiv, throws feasts, shakes his yellow curls and shakes his rings. And in this case, the epic captures from historical reality only the name Vladimir, which then allows us to correlate the epic with history.”
Nikita Petrov
There is a story about Dobrynya and the Snake, which stands out quite strongly from other epic stories. After a completely ordinary beginning, something strange begins: while fighting the Serpent, who attacked Dobrynya in the river, the hero finds a cap of Greek soil on the shore and throws it at the serpent. He runs away howling, promises not to rob anything anymore, not to fly to Rus', and so on. If we compare the names and details of this epic with the history of the Baptism of Rus', a very interesting thing emerges. Dobrynya is mentioned in the epic - the same name in the chronicles of Prince Vladimir’s uncle, who actually baptized Rus' together with his nephew. There is a river - this detail is also important, since baptism always takes place in water. There is a snake - a symbolic embodiment of the pagan enemy. And finally, the strangest and most incomprehensible detail is the cap of the Greek land, with the help of which this very pagan serpent is defeated.
“And these analogies suggest a seditious thought: what if there really is something historical in the epic? The most reliable way to check this is to turn to typological parallels. If we look at the folklore of the peoples of the world, we will see that the motif of snake fighting is found in almost all traditions.”
Nikita Petrov
A logical question arises: does the epic reflect the historical reality reflected in the chronicles, or, conversely, does the chronicler collect all known plots, facts and rumors and combine them into some kind of chronicle? Most likely, it is the chronicle that borrows details and fragments from more ancient epic stories, selecting them on the basis of historical accuracy. If we talk about the historical approach to the study of the epic, we should mention the famous archaeologist and historian Boris Rybakov. It was he who instilled attention to detail in the historical school of Russian folklore, bringing epics closer in people's minds to the real course of history.
“Rybakov took all the epic stories and all the chronicle events and identified one with the other. As a result, in the minds of not only the average schoolchild, but also a person with a humanities education, there is a clear identification of the epic with real history, which in fact has no correlation with the epic.”
Nikita Petrov
Abstract
It is important to understand that folklore and partly epic exist in a special form, separate from the rest of literature. A writer can create several versions of his work, but there is always a final edition; In folklore this, of course, is impossible. There is no one model that the epic is oriented towards; each plot is unique. At the moment the plot is transferred from mouth to mouth, some details remain in the memory of the storyteller, while others disappear forever, never reaching the next storyteller.
“For example, if a storyteller has visited Ukraine, he may include something Ukrainian in the epic, but the epic will reject it. It is called . Folklore will not absorb everything, it will not devour any details. He will learn only what corresponds to the spirit of this genre or the narrative scheme of a particular epic.”
Nikita Petrov
Sometimes in the Russian epic you can find references to historical events and geographical realities, but it is interesting that the feelings of the ancient Russian man, his love relationships are reflected in the epics of that time.
Love in epics is always tragic. Of course, there are many different motives, but one of them can be called especially remarkable. This motif in epic studies is called “The Three Sciences of the Good”: epic characters deal with unfaithful wives and brides in a certain way. The main character asks the question: “Have you hugged the wrong person?” The woman replies: “I was hugging.” “Did you press your legs together?” - “Cuddled.” “Did you kiss with your lips?” - “Kissed.” Then he takes a knife and cuts off her arms, legs, and then her lips in succession.
“But the heroic heart became enraged, there was nothing to do, and Danube Ivanovich kills his wife. And he evaporates from her womb a child whose arms are in silver and whose legs are in gold. And he also says to him: “If you had waited a little, then in two or three days your son would have been born, that is, I, who would have been the strongest and most powerful hero in Rus'.”
Danube Ivanovich commits suicide, falls on a dagger, and the Danube River flows from his blood. Here's the story. As you understand, it most likely has nothing in common with history - this is such an obviously mythologically beautiful plot with an etiological ending, when an event associated with some kind of landscape occurs. In this case, with the river.”
Nikita Petrov
It is obvious that the epics do not have any clear correspondence with the real life history of Russian peasants, especially with the history of their love relationships. In most stories, the hero does not manage to marry happily at all.
There is a version that the popularity of the “Three Sciences are Well Made” motif is associated with the bookish church culture of Rus', where a woman was described as a vessel of the devil, who always leads a man into temptation. And for this, of course, she should always be punished.
“Here arises the same love conflict that we are considering. When Dobrynya turns back into a hero, Marinka complains to him: “And now who will take me as a wife?” Dobrynya replies: “Okay, I’ll take it.” He takes her as his wife, and then the motif “The Three Sciences Are Well Made” begins. He cuts off her lips, arms and legs. And sometimes he ties two horses to the tails and pulls them apart. Well, this is quite a steppe custom.
Thus, tragic love in the epic ends before it begins. It's not very clear why this happens. The number of stories where the hero - a hero, a character from an epic - cannot have a happy marriage with a woman is indeed very large. Much more than those with a happy marriage.”
Nikita Petrov
Abstract
The epic as a genre tends to select from history only those facts that correspond to a certain epic plot scheme. Almost always epics are built on the simple principle of opposition: heroes are divided into friends and foes. The main character always stands on the side of good, does what is right, defends the Russian land, while the enemy only brings destruction, being essentially the complete opposite of pure good. This obvious distinction helps build the image of the main character and popularize him in culture.
“The opposition “friend - foe” plus patriotic heroism - this is how the image of a character is constructed in folklore and in mass culture in general.”
Nikita Petrov
One of the common options for plot composition in epics is its construction around one character. This cyclization around an individual hero is called biographical by epic scholars. We see an almost complete biography of the epic character.
Let's take, for example, Ilya Muromets. One of the main characters of Russian epics - there are many stories dedicated to his biography - over time becomes a full-fledged historical figure. Without being a real hero, he enters history. It was this cyclization that allowed Ilya Muromets to enter the so-called media world, into another cultural space, into our contemporary reality.
“In 1914, Igor Sikorsky’s bomber plane was named after Ilya Muromets. A little later - an armored train, and before that - a sailing frigate. As you know, ships and planes are named after real people. The story with Ilya Muromets shows how the cyclization of a plot around one character makes it possible to make it historical and thereby fit it into the context of history. And of course, most children in modern schools believe that Ilya Muromets existed, not to mention the Orthodox people for whom he was canonized.”
Nikita Petrov
The epic strives for historicity, but at the same time they begin to see history in the epics. This confusion leads to the fact that sometimes the image of an epic hero can greatly influence the formation of other images in Russian culture. The epic, on the one hand, takes what it needs, and, on the other hand, it integrates itself into historical reality, inventing and constructing a new character.
“In 1643, more than 50 different saints were canonized, including Ilya Muromets. And how is his life structured? Well, of course, exclusively based on epic episodes. This is how the canonization of a character occurs, which has no real prototype. That is, indeed, in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra there are some relics about which there were legends or, rather, even legends that it was a certain hero Chobotok. As a result, the image of Saint Elijah of Pechersk is built exclusively on the biography of the epic character.”
Nikita Petrov
Abstract
At the beginning of the 20th century, epics were still a fairly popular genre. The storytellers performed in Moscow and St. Petersburg and attracted huge audiences. This phenomenon did not go unnoticed by the Soviet authorities: folklorists were obliged to go to villages and record not only traditional folklore, but also songs about new, Soviet heroes.
Since Soviet folklore did not exist, it had to be created. This is how the pseudo-folklore, so-called “fakelore” genre of novelties appeared. They glorified the exploits and events of the heroic Soviet present. Specially trained folklorists visited village performers, showed them films, and carried out political work. Storytellers processed this material and created new works - those same novelties.
“Where the pines rustle giants,
Where mighty rivers flow
There are epics about Stalin the wise
The lumberjacks sing around the fires.”Karelian song about Stalin
Thus, the government tried to legitimize itself and its unprecedented exploits with the help of folklore tradition. Such activities at the beginning of the 20th century can easily be called propaganda.
“It was assumed that this epic would glorify the exploits of Soviet industry, the life of the leaders, and if it did not replace it, then it would stand next to the epics. But it didn’t work out that way, and the genre died in the 60s. It did not have any folklore characteristics - it was a one-time performance, few people adopted these texts further. But the phenomenon itself is very interesting.”
Nikita Petrov
Despite the efforts of folklorists (new stories were not only imposed, but also actively published), new tales did not take root. “Epics” about Stalin were replaced by songs of a different genre and format. The genre has outlived itself, since it included an ideology that is not characteristic of either epic or folklore.
“Epic is a genre that accumulates pseudo-historical events, passing them off as historical. The heroism and pathos of the epic can be used not by the bearers of folklore tradition, but, for example, by the state - for other, perhaps more important purposes. In addition, the epic allows us to consolidate what can be called Russianness. It is known that during the Great Patriotic War, novelties that storytellers wrote to soldiers at the front helped them go into battle. That is, they sang new songs and went to war.”
Nikita Petrov
When it comes to the folk epic, scientists unanimously speak of its universality for all peoples. It follows from this that Ancient Rus' should also have had its own epic works. But we have practically no texts confirming this.
Attempts to fill this gap are being made by very different people - from honest researchers looking in the surviving archives for at least some hints of irretrievably lost monuments of literature, to outright charlatans gaining popularity from forgeries. But what do we know for sure about the ancient Russian epic now? What genres of ancient Russian literature and what works can be called epic? Why today, in Russia of the 21st century, are people so keenly interested in these ancient monuments? To answer these questions, I turned to Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of History of Russian Literature of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, Professor of the UNESCO Department of MIGSU RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation, Andrei Mikhailovich Ranchin.
Hello, Andrey Mikhailovich! Today we will talk to you about the ancient Russian epic. Nowadays there is a lot of different information on the Internet about the so-called “Old Russian epic”; the question arises whether it existed at all; many fakes appear. This, in fact, is the subject of our discussion. My first question concerns the most ancient monuments: do modern scientists have evidence or indications of the existence of some lost epic texts that arose before the Christianization of Rus'?
One clarification needs to be made here: are we talking about texts in a broad sense, that is, about works that existed orally, or only about written texts that were recorded or even compiled in written form. If we talk about some kind of oral pre-Christian epic tradition of the heroic epic, then there was undoubtedly something (a little later I will talk about this in more detail).
If we are talking about works recorded in writing in distant pre-Christian antiquity, or even created in written form, then, obviously, there are no such texts. The “Book of Veles”, which, sadly, has become very popular in recent years, is, of course, a fake of the 20th century; there are no “Russian Vedas” or anything like that, including those with a heroic plot, in ancient Russian monuments. Another thing is that there is a presentation of plots recorded in monuments of already Christian times, which, apparently, existed in oral form, in the form of either a song heroic epic, what can be called poetry, or an oral plot, relatively speaking, sagas. Although this is not a very accurate description, as the famous researcher and poetic critic M.L. Gasparov noted, in the early stages of Old Russian literature one can talk about the opposition (opposition) of spoken verse and recited verse, rather than poetry and prose. These are different things. But there was still a certain rhythmic orderliness.
This kind of epic obviously existed, and there are sufficient grounds to assume that there were songs dedicated to the campaigns of the first Russian princes, for example, or, perhaps, to the wars with the Greeks. Apparently, there was a story about the death of Prophetic Oleg from a horse (that is, from a snake). It is interesting that a plot almost coinciding (although not in everything) with it is known in the Scandinavian sagas. This The saga of King Odd, nicknamed the Arrow. True, Odd does worse than Oleg with his horse named Faxie - he is killed so that he does not bring death to the king, but, nevertheless, the coincidence is striking. And there are different versions of which plot is primary - Scandinavian or Old Russian.
Modern researcher Elena Melnikova believes that the plot originated in Rus', initially its hero was, apparently, Oleg (“Helgi” in the Scandinavian vowel), but at the same time, the plot appeared in Rus' in the Scandinavian environment, in the Varangian squad of Oleg, Igor, or subsequent rulers.
V. M. Vasnetsov. Oleg at the Horse Bones (1899)
It is interesting that some archaic layers are also found in Russian epics. In particular, these layers were analyzed by V. Ya. Propp, and not only him. An example of this is the snake-fighting plot. It's obvious that genre memory, the expression used by M. M. Bakhtin is very deep in Russian epics. But in their existing form, these are, of course, monuments of a completely different era. As is known, the recording of epics took place in the 18th - 19th centuries, and not at all in the 10th, for example. But, of course, it is apparently impossible to deny the possibility of the existence of forms of heroic epic shortly before the Baptism of Rus'. Some songs are mentioned that were used to glorify princes, for example. What kind of songs these are is unclear, unfortunately. The “glorious singer Metus” is mentioned at the beginning of the 13th century in the Galician Chronicle. Who this Metusa was, however, is unknown. Along with the opinion that this is an epic storyteller (Metus was even considered to be the author of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” by some very passionate scholars), there is another point of view that “singer in this case means “church singer.”
Are the archaic and newer layers that you are talking about the division into archaic and classical epic that Meletinsky wrote about? Or is it something else?
Let's just say that these are layers that have a deep mythological basis and have preserved a certain mythological memory. In this sense, yes, this construction partly echoes what Meletinsky wrote about. Another thing is that it is impossible to imagine archaic epic and classical epic in their pure form in Ancient Rus'. Classic, if we are already talking about a literary historical epic, like Songs about Roland, which, according to Maurice Boura and other researchers, was already taking shape in written form, or Homer (here is the line between oral and written literature), or Virgil - a classic literary epic, Ancient Rus' does not know. Bylinas, in essence, are an echo of the archaic epic. Of course, these are monuments that are quite late and reflect in one form or another the historical realities of the medieval Christian era, but yes, they apparently have the features of an archaic epic.
Bylinas, in essence, are an echo of the archaic epic.
.jpg)
I. Repin. Sadko (1876)
Folklorists, researchers of the archaic epic, for example, the same M. Boura, point out cases when, apparently, monuments of the heroic epic disappeared. This happened among different peoples in different countries. M. Boura considers as examples Sweden, where heroic poetry was not preserved, Gaul, which lost its heroic poetry in the situation of Latinization, and gives a number of other examples. Although there is reason to believe that these peoples could have had a heroic epic.
Perhaps one more remark: there is a purely hypothetical consideration of the possibility of the existence of secular court literature in Ancient Rus' in the pre-Mongol period. If this is so, it is only possible to assume that the literary epic could already exist in some forms. There are practically no traces, except for the very controversial case with “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. There is an example of a classical epic, but this monument is a translation from Greek - “The Deed of Deugene” (“Digenis Akritus”). This is a translation from pre-Mongol times (no later than the 12th century) of a Byzantine heroic poem. “The Deed of Devgenia” is rather a translation-arrangement - it does not quite correspond to the known Greek editions, it is not very clear whether this was another Greek edition that has not reached us, or whether these are innovations of an ancient Russian translator. But the monument was preserved in later lists, i.e. no earlier than the 17th century. The fact that it is ancient can be judged by the language: it is really the 12th century. Some draw parallels with “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (more linguistic than plot). There really was such a monument.
- In your opinion, how do epics and historical songs relate? Can they be called epic?
The problem is that the word “epic” has multiple meanings. The question is how we understand the epic. If we understand it as a kind of literature, we study it in the classification of all literary monuments into three literary genera, dating back to Aristotle, then in this case we can say that, in general, epics and historical songs, of course, belong to the epic. If the epic is understood as a genre, as heroic poetry, then in this case, historical songs are no longer quite epic. Although, for example, the same Bowra did not separate epics from historical songs at all, he considered them as a single whole: for him, Vladimir the Red Sun, Ivan the Terrible or Peter the Great, for example, are the same characters of the Russian historical epic. But there is also an epic in the genre, narrow sense of the word in which Bakhtin understood it, an epic opposed to the novel, which is also an epic genre in the classification going back to Aristotle, although Aristotle did not recognize the novel as a genre. In antiquity, rhetoric ignored him, as is known - in the time of Aristotle there were no ancient novels.
If we talk about the heroic epic in a narrower sense of the word, it presupposes a certain type of character endowed with certain special exceptional properties, a heroic personality, so to speak. It suggests an epic distance between the implied present and the time depicted in the monument, something that is not found in historical songs. In them, the plot can be marked dotted. For example, the siege of Kazan is depicted, some archer appears with a monologue: “and then gunpowder was rolled up, lit, and the wall exploded.” There may be plots that are more reminiscent in their drama of a ballad like “Ivan the Terrible and His Son.”
If we talk about the heroic epic in a narrower sense of the word, it presupposes a certain type of character endowed with certain special exceptional properties, a heroic personality.
Although it is clear that the border is blurred, it depends, of course, on the terminology. If, for example, we consider Spanish romances as epics (I mean narrative, plot romances, not “The Song of My Sid”, but romances about Sid), then historical songs, at least some of them, can be considered as historical epic
My next question concerns “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” I have seen many mentions that “The Lay” can be called an epic. What do you think about it?
Yes, this point of view is quite widespread. Likhachev, for example, paid tribute to this (although he did not directly call it an epic or heroic poem), bringing “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” closer to chançon de geste, these heroic songs about exploits like “The Song of Roland.” And these rapprochements can really be traced: in both cases, the tragic end of the battle, Alda’s grief about Roland and Yaroslavna’s grief, “gray-bearded Karl, the mighty emperor” and Svyatoslav of Kiev, the senior Russian prince, with silver gray hair, the fight with foreigners-infidels and the motif of “filthy / Polovtsy." But, in fact, there are many features in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” that do not allow us to call this monument (at least in its existing form) a work of heroic epic.
First of all, the heroic epic is characterized by the self-sufficiency of the depicted world. The narrative is told sequentially, and everything we need to know about the characters we know from the work itself. And we don’t need some kind of foreknowledge, knowledge of the historical background. Moreover, this knowledge of the historical background can destroy the pictures created by the epic storyteller or author. If we learn that in fact, in 778, the rearguard of Margrave Orlando was ambushed, and it seems that it was not the Saracens, but the Basques who attacked him, and the campaign of Charlemagne was by no means a struggle for faith with the Saracens, but everything was, to put it mildly, much more difficult, it will destroy the picture.
We can correlate individual characters from Songs of the Nibelungs with historical figures from the era of the Great Migration, but what will this give?
-1899.jpg)
V. M. Vasnetsov. Guslars (1899)
This will give an understanding of the genesis Songs, but it is clear that this is a completely different reality, although it is being recreated as some kind of distant history. In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” it is not clear how many princes go on a campaign. Only from the mention at the end of the monument does it become clear that the son of the main character, Igor, Vladimir, took part in the campaign. But whether Igor’s nephew, Svyatoslav, the fourth participant in the campaign, is named is unknown, because the understanding of the phrase “young months Oleg and Svyatoslav” depends on how we arrange the punctuation marks. There are a variety of interpretations. Who are Gzak and Konchak? You need to know to understand. Who is Svyatoslav of Kyiv? What kind of campaign against Khan Kobyak was there a year before? Finally, what “falcon and red maiden” are Gzak and Konchak talking about as they gallop on the trail of Prince Igor? You need to know history, you need to know the chronicle in order to understand that we are talking about the engagement of Vladimir Igorevich to Konchak’s daughter and the later marriage and departure of Vladimir with Konchak and his son born in the Polish steppe to Rus'. Without this foreknowledge, the “Word” is a dark forest, an incomprehensible, completely enigmatic, mysterious text. And there are many more such examples.
There is a fragment of narrative and an unexpected flashback to the past in two places. Before the description of the battle and after the description of the battle. This is a digression about Igor’s grandfather, Igor Goreslavich, and a digression about Vseslav of Polotsk, about the princely feuds of a hundred years ago. In addition, as B. M. Gasparov noted in his book “The Poetics of the Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” Igor as a character is more reminiscent of the hero of a certain adventurous narrative than an epic one. An epic hero must either win or die. Moreover, death is an even better end to life than a peaceful death in old age. In this sense, the ideal epic hero (as researchers have written about many times) is Achilles, who knows his fate, and follows it, and heroically accepts it. And here Igor declares at the very beginning: “It is better to be sweated than to be caught” (it is better to be killed than to be taken prisoner), but it is precisely he who ends up captured.
Without this foreknowledge, the “Word” is a dark forest, an incomprehensible, completely enigmatic, mysterious text.
Almost his entire army died, he escapes from captivity, comes to Rus' - “Look, rejoice, I have arrived.” They are happy, yes.
The first printed edition of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" (1800)
But this is not the behavior of a heroic character at all. The escape itself is pursued by the motive of werewolf and is more reminiscent of the plot of a fairy tale, when a hero from the Far Far Away Kingdom returns to his native land, deceiving his pursuer. This motive does not exist in its pure form, but the tail can undoubtedly be traced here.
In the case of the “Word”, parallels of the most varied kinds can be drawn (I’m not talking about the degree of validity) - researchers such as Ricardo Pichio, for example, and B. M. Gasparov drew parallels with stories from the Old Testament (the campaign of Ahab and Asaphat, which ended in disaster), and with the parable of the prodigal son and many others. The existing text of the Lay cannot be considered as a monument to the heroic epic. I'm not even saying what a very controversial and complex issue the rhythmic organization of the Lay is. There is rhythm, but no one has indisputably established a single principle. There is no formula in The Lay, at least in the form that is characteristic of the heroic epic. Not all monuments contain such formulaicity; in some later ones there is almost none, for example, in “The Song of My Sid,” as Bowra notes, which is relatively late. But usually the heroic epic is characterized by the use of ready-made formulas to describe any situation, formulas that have a clearly fixed rhythmic position - the verse is occupied by a formula or hemistich.
Formulas in which they see the basis of the heroic epic, for example, Terry and Lord, American folklorists who studied, on the one hand, the epic songs of the Balkans, and on the other hand, the Homeric epic.
It is permissible to assume that the basis of the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” is indeed a certain “Song of Igor’s Campaign.” But in this case, the text that we know is a transformation of an initially different work. Maybe really folklore. Maybe he lived in a friendly court environment. Boyan, if we take his description literally, is a storyteller who sings to the harp. Parallels were drawn with King David, for example, playing the psalter. If taken literally, it turns out that Boyan is really an oral storyteller who sang certain songs to the princes of the previous (11th) century. With regard to “The Lay,” we can only say presumably that it had some kind of basis, perhaps a song, which can be called a heroic epic. In its current form, this work is unique.
I thought that this adventurous hero and the flashbacks were more reminiscent of the Odyssey. Were any parallels drawn between Homer's Odyssey and the Lay?
I don’t remember such parallels, although, in my own way, of course, it would be interesting to draw them. Precisely for the reason that, after all, the material led researchers in one direction: since there is a battle, we need to look for something from the Iliad, or maybe the “Ages of Trojan” - this is the memory of Troy - according to Byzantine chronicles, the plot of the siege of Troy in They knew ancient Rus'. We haven’t done any work with The Odyssey, although there are indeed fairy-tale elements there, they have been explored.
But in the Odyssey, the narrative of the past is introduced in a very specific way, which is characteristic of the heroic epic; it has a motivation. They ask and he tells. Odysseus tells what happened to him before. Demodok sings about some events. And here, quite suddenly, the author breaks off the narrative about the events of the present (about Igor’s campaign) and turns to the events of a hundred years ago.
That is, it is possible to explain the meaning of these retrospectives, and such attempts have been made, but this violation of the temporal sequence is completely uncharacteristic of the heroic epic, as is known. The Homeric principle of storytelling is that if we are talking about some event, and at the same time we need to talk about something else, move on to another storyline (I’m not saying return to the past), then we will stop the action here, and then start from the same moment. This is not the case in The Lay, a lot of things are cut off there, characters are introduced in such a way that we don’t know who they are. Who is Ovlur, who whistled the horse across the river? Only from the Ipatiev Chronicle, from the Tale of Igor’s Campaign, is it known that this is a Polovtsian (apparently a baptized Polovtsian, and according to F.B. Uspensky, his name is Laurus, and perhaps he was baptized by Igor himself), who helped escape from captivity. It is impossible to immediately understand what is happening.
V. G. Perov. Yaroslavna's Cry (1881)
The last question, taking us back to the beginning - why do we need the ancient Russian epic now? Why are fakes happening now? It is clear why they arose in the 19th century. Why is there interest in this? Do we now need some kind of epic, obviously not in that form, but nonetheless?
The creation of any works in the spirit of a heroic epic was impossible before, and in the postmodern age, the epic remains only in the form of an ironic, perhaps in the form of an ironic poem or burlesque. There were examples from the 1920s and 30s. epic- new, what they were called (starinas are the classic name for epics by the performers themselves, and these became novelties), about Lenin and Stalin. But I would not dare to imagine such an epic about Putin, for example, or something similar, because the folklore tradition, as far as I understand (a question for folklorists, of course), has actually already died.
That is, it seems that it is no longer possible to write down a full-fledged epic; in my student years I heard some snippets on an expedition near Tarusa, for example, but now, it seems, this is practically impossible even in more remote places, somewhere in the North . In fact, she has already left. If we talk about a literary heroic poem, yes, this is possible precisely as a kind of experiment. Epic cannot exist as a serious genre now.
As for the interest or attempts to discover the ancient Russian pagan epic and the like, then, of course, they are associated with the problem of national self-identification and an attempt to establish deep historical roots. “Why do the Greeks have it, but we don’t? Why is there Homer, but we don’t, how can this be? We should also have our own Homer,” for example. And with a certain awakening of some neo-pagan trends (although this, of course, is not very serious), which, although marginal, is quite a strong phenomenon. With an inferiority complex, and a cultural one at that (“Why is there no Homer?”). And with a feeling or perhaps trauma associated with a lack of heroism. It is clear that there is the Great Patriotic War, there are a number of other events, there are quite a lot of them, but the question arises: “Where is this source?” Something like the Trojan War or the great battles that are described in the Mahabharata, or the battle in the Roncesvalles Gorge is needed for something like this to exist in Rus', and it should be a text not written by a church author like a chronicle, or elements of heroism in hagiographies ( as in the Life of Alexander Nevsky), namely the epic. I think the current interest in the epic is connected with this. With the desire to find something of our own, original, national and at the same time in no way inferior to the great works of other countries and peoples. I'm afraid that, unfortunately, I won't be able to find it.
- Thank you very much, Andrey Mikhailovich.
Thank you. ■
Prepared the interview
Elnara Akhmedova
EPICAL- folk epic song, a genre characteristic of the Russian tradition. The basis of the plot of the epic is some heroic event, or a remarkable episode of Russian history (hence the popular name of the epic - “old man”, “old woman”, implying that the action in question took place in the past). The term “epic” was introduced into scientific use in the 40s of the 19th century. folklorist I.P. Sakharov.
Historical stages of development of epics. Researchers disagree on when epic songs appeared in Rus'. Some attribute their appearance to the 9th–11th centuries, others to the 11th–13th centuries. One thing is certain - having existed for so long, passed on from mouth to mouth, the epics did not reach us in their original form; they underwent many changes, as the political system, the domestic and foreign political situation, and the worldview of listeners and performers changed. It is almost impossible to say in what century this or that epic was created; some reflect an earlier, some a later stage in the development of the Russian epic, and in other epics researchers distinguish very ancient subjects under later layers.
The first recording of Russian epic songs was made at the beginning of the 17th century. Englishman Richard James . However, the first significant work on collecting epics, which had enormous scientific significance, was done by the Cossack Kirsha Danilov around 40–60 18th century. The collection he collected consisted of 70 songs. For the first time, incomplete records were published only in 1804 in Moscow, under the title Ancient Russian Poems and for a long time were the only collection of Russian epic songs.
The next step in the study of Russian epic songs was made by P.N. Rybnikov . He discovered that epics were still performed in the Olonets province, although by that time this folklore genre was considered dead. Thanks to P.N. Rybnikov’s discovery, it was possible not only to study the epic epic more deeply, but also to get acquainted with the method of its performance and with the performers themselves.
Cyclization of epics. Although, due to special historical conditions, a coherent epic never took shape in Rus', scattered epic songs are formed into cycles either around a hero or according to the community of the area where they lived. There is no classification of epics that would be unanimously accepted by all researchers; however, it is customary to single out the epics of the Kyiv, or “Vladimirov”, Novgorod and Moscow cycles. In addition to them, there are epics that do not fit into any cycles.
1) Kyiv or “Vladimirov” cycle. In these epics, heroes gather around the court of Prince Vladimir. The prince himself does not perform feats, however, Kyiv is the center that attracts heroes called upon to protect their homeland and faith from enemies. V.Ya. Propp believes that the songs of the Kyiv cycle are not a local phenomenon, characteristic only of the Kyiv region; on the contrary, epics of this cycle were created throughout Kievan Rus. Over time, the image of Vladimir changed, the prince acquired features that were initially unusual for the legendary ruler; in many epics he is cowardly, mean, and often deliberately humiliates the heroes (Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin, Ilya and Idolishche, Ilya’s Quarrel with Vladimir).
2) Novgorod cycle. The epics differ sharply from the epics of the “Vladimirov” cycle, which is not surprising, since Novgorod never knew the Tatar invasion, but was the largest trading center of ancient Rus'. The heroes of Novgorod epics (Sadko, Vasily Buslaev) are also very different from others.
3) Moscow cycle. These epics reflected the life of the upper strata of Moscow society. The epics about Khoten Bludovich, Duke and Churil contain many details characteristic of the era of the rise of the Moscow state: the clothes, morals and behavior of the townspeople are described.
Bylinas, as a rule, have three parts: a chorus (usually not directly related to the content), the function of which is to prepare for listening to the song; the beginning (within its limits the action unfolds); ending.
Plots of epics. The number of epic stories, despite the many recorded versions of the same epic, is very limited: there are about 100 of them. There are epics based on matchmaking or hero's struggle for his wife(Sadko, Mikhailo Potyk and later - Alyosha Popovich and Elena Petrovichna); fighting monsters(Dobrynya and the serpent, Alyosha and Tugarin, Ilya and the Nightingale the Robber); fight against foreign invaders, including: repelling Tatar raids (Ilya’s quarrel with Vladimir), the war with the Lithuanians (Bylina about the Lithuanian raid).
They stand apart satirical epics or epic parodies(Duke Stepanovich, Competition with Churila).
Main epic heroes. Representatives of the Russian “mythological school” divided the heroes of epics into “senior” and “younger” heroes. In their opinion, "elder"(Svyatogor, Danube, Volkh, Potyka) were the personification of elemental forces, epics about them uniquely reflected the mythological views that existed in Ancient Rus'. "Younger" heroes (Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich, Dobrynya Nikitich) are ordinary mortals, heroes of a new historical era, and therefore are minimally endowed with mythological features. Despite the fact that serious objections were subsequently raised against such a classification, such a division is still found in the scientific literature.
Images of heroes are the people's standard of courage, justice, patriotism and strength (it is not for nothing that one of the first Russian aircraft, which had an exceptional carrying capacity at that time, was named by its creators “Ilya Muromets”).
Svyatogor refers to the oldest and most popular epic heroes. His very name indicates a connection with nature. He is tall and powerful; the earth can hardly bear him. This image was born in the pre-Kiev era, but subsequently underwent changes. Only two stories have come down to us, initially associated with Svyatogor (the rest arose later and are fragmentary in nature): the story of Svyatogor’s discovery of a saddle bag, which, as specified in some versions, belonged to another epic hero, Mikula Selyaninovich. The bag turns out to be so heavy that the hero cannot lift it, he strains himself and, dying, finds out that this bag contains “all earthly burdens.” The second story tells about the death of Svyatogor, who meets on the road a coffin with the inscription: “Whoever is destined to lie in a coffin will lie in it,” and decides to try his luck. As soon as Svyatogor lies down, the coffin lid jumps up on its own and the hero cannot move it. Before his death, Svyatogor transfers his strength to Ilya Muromets, thus the hero of antiquity passes the baton to the new hero of the epic who comes to the fore.
Ilya Muromets, undoubtedly, the most popular hero of epics, a mighty hero. The epic does not know him as a young man, he is an old man with a gray beard. Oddly enough, Ilya Muromets appeared later than his epic younger comrades Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. His homeland is the city of Murom, the village of Karacharovo.
The peasant son, the sick Ilya, “sat sitting on the stove for 30 years and three years.” One day, wanderers came to the house, “walking kaliki.” They healed Ilya, giving him heroic strength. From now on, he is a hero who is destined to serve the city of Kyiv and Prince Vladimir. On the way to Kyiv, Ilya defeats the Nightingale the Robber, puts him in a Toroki and takes him to the princely court. Among other exploits of Ilya, it is worth mentioning his victory over the Idol, who besieged Kyiv and forbade begging and remembering God's name. Here Elijah acts as a defender of the faith.
His relationship with Prince Vladimir is not going smoothly. The peasant hero does not meet with due respect at the prince’s court, he is treated with gifts, and is not given a place of honor at the feast. The rebellious hero is imprisoned in a cellar for seven years and doomed to starvation. Only the attack on the city by the Tatars, led by Tsar Kalin, forces the prince to ask for help from Ilya. He gathers the heroes and enters the battle. The defeated enemy flees, vowing never to return to Rus'.
Nikitich- a popular hero of the Kyiv epic cycle. This heroic snake fighter was born in Ryazan. He is the most polite and well-mannered of the Russian heroes; it is not for nothing that Dobrynya always acts as an ambassador and negotiator in difficult situations. The main epics associated with the name of Dobrynya: Dobrynya and the serpent, Dobrynya and Vasily Kazemirovich, Dobrynya’s fight with the Danube, Dobrynya and Marinka, Dobrynya and Alyosha.
Alesha Popovich- originally from Rostov, he is the son of a cathedral priest, the youngest of the famous trinity of heroes. He is brave, cunning, frivolous, prone to fun and jokes. Scientists belonging to the historical school believed that this epic hero traces his origins to Alexander Popovich, who died in the Battle of Kalka, however, D.S. Likhachev showed that in reality the opposite process took place, the name of the fictional hero entered the chronicle. The most famous feat of Alyosha Popovich is his victory over Tugarin Zmeevich. The hero Alyosha does not always behave in a dignified manner; he is often arrogant and boastful. Among the epics about him are Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin, Alyosha Popovich and the Petrovich sister.
Sadko is also one of the oldest heroes, in addition, he is perhaps the most famous hero of epics Novgorod cycle. An ancient story about Sadko, which tells how the hero woos the daughter of the sea king, subsequently became more complex, surprisingly realistic details appeared concerning the life of ancient Novgorod. The epic about Sadko is divided into three relatively independent parts . IN first Gusser Sadko, who has impressed the sea king with his skill in playing, receives advice from him on how to get rich. From this moment on, Sadko is no longer a poor musician, but a merchant, a rich guest. IN next song Sadko bets with Novgorod merchants that he can buy all the goods of Novgorod. In some versions of the epic, Sadko wins, in some, on the contrary, he is defeated, but in any case he leaves the city due to the intolerant attitude of the merchants towards him. IN last song tells about Sadko's journey across the sea, during which the king of the sea calls him to himself in order to marry his daughter and leave him in the underwater kingdom. But Sadko, having abandoned the beautiful princesses, marries Chernavushka the mermaid, who personifies the Novgorod river, and she brings him to his native shores. Sadko returns to his “earthly wife”, leaving the daughter of the sea king. V.Ya. Propp points out that the epic about Sadko is the only one in the Russian epic where the hero goes to the other world (underwater kingdom) and marries an otherworldly creature. These two motifs indicate the antiquity of both the plot and the hero.
Vasily Buslaev. Two epics are known about this indomitable and violent citizen of Veliky Novgorod. In his rebellion against everyone and everything, he does not pursue any goal other than the desire to riot and show off. The son of a Novgorod widow, a wealthy city dweller, Vasily from an early age showed his unbridled temper in fights with peers. Having grown up, he gathered a squad to compete with all of Veliky Novgorod. The battle ends in complete victory for Vasily. Second epic dedicated to the death of Vasily Buslaev. Having traveled with his squad to Jerusalem, Vasily mocks the dead head he encounters, despite the ban, swims naked in Jericho and neglects the requirement inscribed on the stone he found (you cannot jump over the stone lengthwise). Vasily, due to the indomitability of his nature, begins to jump and gallop over it, catches his foot on a stone and breaks his head. This character, who embodied the unbridled passions of Russian nature, was M. Gorky’s favorite hero. The writer carefully saved up materials about him, cherishing the idea of writing about Vaska Buslaev, but upon learning that A.V. Amphiteatrov was writing a play about this hero, he gave all the accumulated materials to his fellow writer. This play is considered one of the best works of A.V.Amphiteatrov.
