The main genres of literature of Peter the Great's time. Literature of the Peter I era
PERIODIZATION OF LITERATURE OF THE 18TH CENTURY
Course of lectures on literature of the 18th century
for students of the Faculty of Russian Language, Literature and Foreign Languages, majoring in philology
Teacher - Atajanyan I.A.
Lecture 1
The defining stage in the life of the Russian people and in their literature in the 18th century was the period of Peter the Great’s reforms, when “A united, homogeneous, young, rapidly rising Russia, almost invulnerable and completely inaccessible to conquest” (K. Marx) appeared in the face of European countries.
“New” Russian literature, largely prepared by the previous period of its development, in the 30-40s basically completed the transition from the medieval genre system to a system of genres of a new type, striving for synchronous inclusion in the pan-European process. The completion of secularization (liberation from church spiritual influence) of Russian literature also dates back to this time.
Growing Russian interest writers XVIII centuries to the human personality deepened the humanistic principle in art. And the educational basis of Russian literature of the 18th century entailed the affirmation of the extra-class value of man and the development of anti-feudal morality.
Since the 60s XVIII century Along with the emergence of the sentimental-pre-romantic trend, the growth of realistic tendencies sharply intensified, inextricably linked with further development satirical line. Russian literature began to look for approaches to social analysis, explaining character as a result of the influence of the environment and external circumstances on a person.
By the end of the century, a synthesis of personal and social principles within one work is planned (the ode “To Grace” by Karamzin and the work of Radishchev). In the pinnacle work of literature of the 18th century. - “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” Radishchev will come to a firm conclusion about the need for an uprising of the people.
In the history of Russian literature of the 18th century, four periods of development can be outlined:
The first period is the literature of Peter’s time. It is still of a transitional nature. The main feature is the intensive process of secularization. The leading genre is anonymous stories. The first ones appear lyrical works, satire is born.
The second period (1730 – 1750) is characterized by the formation of classicism as the leading literary movement, the creation of a new genre system, and in-depth development of the literary language.
The third period (1760 - the first half of the 70s) - the further evolution of classicism, the flourishing of satire, the emergence of prerequisites for the emergence of sentimentalism (pre-romanticism).
The fourth period (the last quarter of a century) is the beginning of the crisis of classicism, the emergence of sentimentalism, and the strengthening of realistic tendencies. With the publication of A.N. Radishchev’s “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” the most progressive part of Russian literature becomes the bearer of revolutionary ideas.
(LITERATURE OF PETER'S ERA)
Russian literature of the 18th century grew on the soil prepared by ancient Russian writing and oral folk art. Russian literature of the 18th century, both chronologically and essentially, begins with the era of Peter I. The enormous economic and social changes that took place in the Russian state at the beginning of the century could not but affect the spiritual needs of society. The art and literature of the medieval type that dominated Rus' could no longer satisfy these demands. The first decades of the century were the time of the formation of new art, the time of the creation of literature that was qualitatively different from the works of ancient Russian literature.
The most important sign of something new in literary creativity was the writers’ view of reality from a national point of view. The horizon of the author's vision is expanding. Literary heroes now live not only in Russia - they often go to “foreign countries”, and the very image of other countries is gradually freed from the touch of fantasy. The number of translations from modern Western European literature is growing. More and more often we hear in Russian literature the words that every person is a member of society, that this imposes certain responsibilities on him: a person must bring real benefit to society, the state (one of the ideas of Kantemirov’s satires). State institutions become the subject of poeticization (“Tilemakhida” by Trediakovsky, solemn odes of Lomonosov).
At the beginning of the century, other, deep-seated trends appeared in verbal art: an attempt was made to reflect human psychology. Such attempts were also made in prose (“Ride to the Island of Love” by Trediakovsky based on Talman’s novel). But a particularly significant result was the development of love lyrics. The whole sphere human life, previously almost unknown in literature, has now become accessible to artistic depiction.
These new literary trends largely contradicted each other, entered into struggle with each other and did not always find their complete stylistic face. Along with attempts to portray reality as truthfully and accurately as possible, there also arose a desire to go into the world of fantasy (usually drawn from folklore), into the realm of the exotic, the bizarre and the unexpected (in the plays of the Kunst Theater, partly in stories - “histories”).
If Russian literature of the 18th century as a whole can be conditionally called a creative laboratory that prepared artistic achievements XIX century, the experimental principle was especially evident in the literature of the first decades of the century. Most fully this feature literary process 1700-1730 expressed in his work by V.K. Trediakovsky.
Thus, the work of the writers of the beginning of the century is not united by any one or even several literary trends in the modern understanding of the word (as would be typical for the literature of the second half XVII I century and subsequent times). As in the 17th century, literary life is still developing spontaneously. Writing has not yet become a large and internally organized part of ideological struggle, has not yet become a profession. There are also no clearly understood literary theoretical programs, no literary manifestos (which in general will be destined to play a lesser role in the history of Russian literature than in the history of Western literatures). There are, however, various ideological and stylistic trends, which in their totality prepare the ground for Russian literary classicism.
Against what historical and cultural background did Russian literature develop at the beginning of the century? What was the general state of the country's culture at that time?
This time went down in history as the “era of Peter’s reforms.” Peter I, as you know, did a lot to bring Russian culture closer to European culture. A.S. Pushkin said this well: “Russia entered Europe like a deflated ship, with the sound of an ax and the thunder of cannons.” And this huge ship was built thanks to the efforts of Peter I. Although in Russia, as D.S. Likhachev notes, there was no revival, renaissance, in the European sense of the word, nevertheless, the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. can rightfully be considered equivalent to the European Renaissance for Russia. From a monarchy of the old type, from a state bound by outdated class prejudices, from a state in which the ruling class was the boyars, Russian society came to a powerful state of a different, European type, to an “enlightened” monarchy, where the master was the nobility, uniting the ancient clan nobility - the boyars with the new nobility, which arose relatively recently or even just emerged, with the nobility in the proper sense of the word.
The new state consists of landowners who own the land, and peasants, finally enslaved, living on this land. These are, finally, merchants, now, during a rapid economic recovery, Agriculture and industry, which became an important force in social development, and the clergy.
The West, towards which the Russian state at the beginning of the century was largely oriented, was also, of course, heterogeneous. In Western Europe there was a counter-reformation, but there was also enlightenment, and there was also Renaissance humanism. If Simeon of Polotsk in the 17th century had not yet clearly defined his position: either he was closer to the Enlightenment, or to Renaissance humanism (this probably was not clear to him either), then Peter I in his transformations, in his reforms clearly and definitely gravitated towards the educational, humanistic West. This was inevitable historically.
In accordance with these new trends, a completely new worldview took shape in Russia. Interest in sciences, which had previously been considered as something bordering on sorcery, witchcraft, and mysticism, manifested itself with enormous force; Interest in the exact sciences especially increased. In connection with this, faith in the power of the human mind is gradually being established. Reason becomes the measure of everything (this is how the ground is prepared for the emergence of classicism). And this measure is gradually, imperceptibly pushing into the background many traditional religious ideas. The authority of the church is replaced by the authority of the state, a state that has subordinated church authority to itself. Serving the state becomes a criterion of a person’s value and moral qualities. Social benefit is gradually becoming the highest ethical standard. And these new ideas, which originally arose in the West, along with new concepts enter Russian everyday life: public benefit, public cause, citizen, patriot. The conviction arises that civil laws are not written by inspiration from above, but are created according to the laws of reason, determined by “natural law” and not by “divine providence.”
Connections with Europe are being established very quickly. The dam that had been separating Russia from Western culture for many centuries was broken. Russian people, mainly young people, are urgently “sent” by the government to “foreign lands”; quite a large number of educational books appear, both translated and their own in Russian. L. Magnitsky writes Arithmetic, remarkable for its time, with poetic inserts. The significance of this book (1703) went beyond the study of mathematics. The first Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti was published, the circulation of which sometimes rose to several thousand copies. Introduced new calendar(1700). A new civil font was approved, which greatly facilitated book printing and increased the possibility of disseminating literacy among the wider population.
Attaching great importance to the publication of educational books and the development of exact sciences, Peter I and his associates encouraged the development of applied arts. The first gymnasiums, still few in number, appeared. Thus, in 1703, the Ernst Gluck gymnasium was founded in Moscow. Peter I widely, sometimes going to extremes, attracted foreigners for such purposes. Quite a number of “digital schools” are being created – schools in which the teaching of exact sciences occupies the main place. The Zaikonospasskoe Moscow School is being transformed into a higher educational institution - the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. New, more qualified teachers are attracted here and training rises to a higher level.
Interest in ancient culture. In this regard, in 1705, an interesting book with the Latin title “Symbols and Emblems” was published. This book contained over eight hundred allegorical emblems and symbols most commonly used in Western European literature and mainly associated with Greek and Roman mythology. Such a book is a kind of ABC of mythology, an introduction to the world of conventional images, so characteristic of the culture of European Baroque and Classicism, and turned out to be very useful for the Russian reader. The book “The Library, or about the gods” by Apollodorus is also being published. Its translation into Russian pursued the same goals and also contributed to familiarizing the Russian public with ancient culture.
A need arose to publish a collection of rules of good manners and other books that could introduce the Russian average person to Western European culture. Such books sometimes bore a satirical imprint. An example is the collection “An Honest Mirror of Youth,” which contained numerous advice regarding behavior in in public places, the life of a Russian person was brought out of the chambers and chambers into assemblies and into the public. “Don’t spit on the floor in society,” “Zertsalo” taught a Russian young man dressed in a European caftan, “don’t blow your nose loudly, hold back the hiccups in front of the ladies,” etc.
All this was absolutely necessary to instill in young people who had never previously attended crowded meetings in the presence of women and were not familiar with European rules of polite behavior. Such advice was not harmful to the female part of society.
The Russian people also had to learn a lot of new things about the rules of postal correspondence, especially love correspondence. “Examples of how different compliments are written” was the title of a collection of sample texts of postal correspondence, which explained in detail what formulas should be used to begin a letter, how to speak in a message about your feelings for a lady, and how to end the letter.
Samples were also provided business letters, messages from a husband to his wife, from a wife to her husband, etc. It is worth emphasizing the desire to affirm human dignity, characteristic of Butts. Here we find a decisive statement against derogatory signatures, so common in pre-Petrine Rus', such as “your bridegroom”, “your Ivashko”.
In 1724, the “Academy of Sciences and Curious Arts” was founded, and thus the development of science in Russia was finally centralized and taken under the care of the state. Literature acquires a purely secular character. Of the 600 books printed during the reign of Peter I, only 48 were church books.
Peter's economic reforms, his administrative reforms, the introduction of ministries, the construction of a fleet, the development of industry were of great importance - the whole life, all the ideas of the Russian people were turned upside down, radically changed. New customs, a new way of life required other words to be reflected in literature, a new literary language, new genres, new forms. Under Peter, a new intelligentsia, albeit small in number, but very active, quickly emerged. Among them were commoners, i.e. came from the third estate, as well as from the minor clergy. A very prominent figure among these people was Ivan Tikhonovich Pososhkov, who died in 1726, a self-taught peasant, an extremely gifted scientist-economist, who superbly studied the structure of the Russian economy of his time, its way of life, and in his old age wrote the famous “Book of Poverty and Wealth”, wherein amazingly completely new, sometimes very bold ideas of economic and political transformations were intertwined with patriarchal remnants and traditions. For this book, the “seditious” (author) was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he died. Pososhkov's book was published only in the 19th century.
Another major cultural figure of the beginning of the century was Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev, a famous historian, famous for his “History of Russia from the most ancient times” in five books. A man of a completely new mindset, he was, in principle, an opponent of serfdom, although he did not yet know specific ways to eliminate serfdom.
A number of major churchmen should also be included among the people who energetically supported Peter’s reform activities. This is the Ryazan Bishop Gabriel Buzhinsky, a very knowledgeable man with very progressive views, this is the Archbishop of Novgorod Feofan Prokopovich, encyclopedic educated, who also fully supported the reforms of Peter I, especially the reform of church government carried out by the latter (the abolition of the patriarchate and the establishment of the Synod), and who became “the first member of the Synod " Feofan Prokopovich developed a “spiritual regulation” that determined the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church under Peter I.
Another major figure who supported Peter I was Theophilus Rabbit. The result of the efforts of these major representatives of Russian culture was the emergence of an advanced group of intelligentsia of various ranks, the traditions of which were continued in the 60s by the publishers of satirical magazines and the authors of stories designed for the third-class reader (M. Chulkov, V. Levshin). In the 20s - 30s, such intelligentsia rallied around Feofan Prokopovich into the well-known “Scientific Squad”. The “Scientific Squad” also included the wonderful Russian satirist poet Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir.
Of great importance was the creation of the Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti, published from the end of 1702 to 1727. The newspaper was filled with newsreels and also published official documents. Fiction, articles, and essays were not published in the newspaper. The volume of the newspaper was unstable and ranged from two to twenty-two. The circulation also fluctuated sharply from thirty to four thousand. This newspaper published various reports about wars, popular uprisings, unrest, the activities of schismatics, and what was said and written about Russia abroad. The editor was Polikarpov, the translators were Volkov and Sinyavich. “Vedomosti” existed for a quarter of a century, “outliving” Peter I for two years. After 1727, “Vedomosti” was replaced by another newspaper, “Petersburg Vedomosti”.
In the 17th century, an attempt was made to give the Russian reader some idea of what they thought abroad about the Russian state. It was a handwritten newspaper, Kuranty, which was written in one copy, by hand, and distributed only among the tsar’s close associates, so that the scope of action was incomparably narrower than the scope of Vedomosti.
At the end of 1702, a certain Johann Kunst, a German from Danzig, a man knowledgeable in theater and possessing well-known organizational skills, on Peter’s initiative, recruited a troupe of “comedians” and prepared several plays. These plays were performed in accordance with the tradition of traveling acting troupes. The plays were staged initially in German, then in Russian. But the Kunst Theater did not last very long: the very next year Kunst died and the performances stopped. These performances were full of bizarre, spectacular episodes; they featured colorful characters of unusual fate, designed to capture the imagination of the viewer. Melodramatic plots were full of horror, murders and duels, and unexpected turns of action. The rules for conducting the performance were very unique. Female roles were played by male actors. The actors themselves introduced each other to the audience. Due to the extreme simplicity of the scenery, and sometimes the absence of it, the actors announced the name of the scene and the city. A curtain for the most part was not used. These theaters did not last long. By the end of the first decade of the 18th century. their popularity declined.
The Russian professional theater was to emerge and finally strengthen only at the beginning of the second half of the century through the efforts of Feodor Volkov. Only this birth of professional theater in Rus' will lead in the 50-60s to the complete establishment of a new art form in cultural life Russia.
The lyrical poetry of this time, weak in artistic terms, is extremely important in the historical and literary sense, for it opened up to the reader, to Russian word art, a completely new, previously unknown area of human life - the sphere of personal experiences. In ancient Russian and medieval Russian literature, as well as in folklore (with the exception of love “lingering” songs), the theme of lyrical, in the proper sense of the word, experiences was absent. Descriptions of the characters' love experiences did not occupy any important place. If there was talk about love, then it was not the feeling of love itself that was described, but emphasis was placed on the economic significance of the marriage union. Love was usually replaced by predestination, fate, which linked the destinies of people. In pre-Petrine literature, we were talking about carnal attraction, cynical attraction, devoid of any spirituality. The feeling of love was not depicted in all its meaning, i.e. as a feeling that transforms the entire spiritual world of a person, as a feeling that plays a huge role in a person’s life. This is exactly how, in a new way, only poets of the 18th century spoke about love. In their “songs” and “arias” love not only becomes driving force work, the basis of its conflict, but love here is exalted in the artistic sense of the word, poeticized, almost deified. But book lyrics were still artistically helpless and attracted readers only with their innovative content.
Literary language came into a chaotic state due to the fact that life changed radically, a mass of new concepts appeared, for the expression of which the old language of class, caste medieval Rus' was completely unsuitable. Neither the Old Church Slavonic language style, nor the style of business documents, nor folk style. It was necessary to look for a completely new fusion of verbal elements. Of course, this extremely difficult task could not be solved immediately. At the beginning of the century, such a task was only posed.
Of great importance for the development of poetry in Russia was the craze for writing syllabic and pre-syllabic poems - verses, characteristic of seminary life at that time. The writing of poetry was included in the curriculum of seminaries, and at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries the main attention was paid to the purely external, graphic form of a poetic work. It was assumed that it was the visual symmetry of the text set out on paper that was a manifestation of the highest artistic and poetic mastery. Hence the poems in the shape of a cross, heart or some other shape. Such poems were called figured poems. Acro- and meso-verses are also written, where either the initial letters of the lines, read from top to bottom, or the middle letters of the verses, highlighted in capitals, are formed into some meaningful word, the name of the person to whom this poem was dedicated. Much attention attention was also paid to writing so-called “crawfish poems,” or werewolf poems, which could be read in the usual order, from left to right, and vice versa, and the meaning of the verse did not change.
Literary creativity had great internal resistance and was difficult to update. Stylistic traditions that were very strong in ancient Russian literature lived for a long time in the literature of the 18th century. In the first decades, genres characteristic of the 16th-17th centuries also retained their importance. In the 17th century, the genre of the story was most widespread in Russian literature. It remains popular in the first decades of the new century. In an old, familiar genre, the old, both in content and in stylistic form, begins to come into conflict with the new, while at the same time continuing to generally coexist with this new. This phenomenon can be traced through the example of the most widespread story of Peter’s time - “The History of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky, about the beautiful princess Irakli of the Florensky land.” buzzword“historia” or “history” is very often introduced into the title of such works. This, of course, is the spirit of the times, and not only lexical: with this word, the anonymous authors of the stories wanted to emphasize the authenticity, truthfulness, and typicality of the events depicted in the works. This work develops a conflict familiar to the stories of the 17th century. Here we also have a clash of old and new ideas about the purpose of life, about moral values, about the moral foundations of society, about the clash of ideologies between fathers and sons. But if in the stories of the 17th century such a collision usually acquired a very sharp character and was depicted as an antagonistic conflict, then there is no direct conflict, a plot conflict between father and son, the hero of the work. On the contrary, the hero of the story, Vasily, always remembers his father, sends him money from abroad, there is no enmity between father and son. Moreover, the father does not prevent his son from living by his own mind and even sympathizes with such filial behavior. But the ideological content of the story as a whole reflects the impossibility of living in the old way, represents the denial of all old life, its entire way of life, its morality. And the hero, living in a new way, actively building his destiny, wins and reaches the highest rung of the social ladder. This did not happen in the stories of the 17th century. This is a fundamentally new solution to the conflict - quite in the spirit of the turbulent times of Peter the Great. Vasily enjoys great sympathy from the author. His image primarily emphasizes purposefulness, initiative, an active attitude to life, and the ability to “live with one’s own mind” (a skill that previously destroyed the hero of the story “About Grief-Misfortune”). Vasily treats “notable persons” with respect. But at the same time he has an independent character and always maintains human dignity. The hero at the end of the story achieves the highest position in society not thanks to the merits of his father, not the nobility of his family, but solely due to his own outstanding qualities. The end of the story also differs from the endings of stories of the 17th century - hopeless ones - not the departure to a monastery, not the death of the hero, but his triumph as a winner in the struggle of life, and a winner in moral terms. The love conflict plays a big role; it is she who drives the action throughout the predominant part of the plot. At the same time, love is idealized as opposed to its condemnation as a demonic or antisocial principle in the stories of the 17th century.
In compositional terms, “The History of Vasily Koriotsky” is perhaps the most perfect of all the stories of Peter the Great’s time. Other works of this genre are distinguished by the complexity of the conflict and uncoordinated composition. To a lesser extent, this applies to the parody “The Story of the Russian Merchant John”, the hero of which is not a nobleman, but a merchant. He goes to Paris to “taste the pleasures of social life.” Much attention in the story is paid to the description of love flirtation, the vicissitudes of John's courtship with Eleanor. Love notes are introduced into the text for the first time. But everything is painted in ironic tones. The appearance of a work clearly tinged with parody is evidence that the genre of “history” has begun to become obsolete to some extent.
The most significant in volume, and at the same time the least coherent compositionally, of all the stories of Peter the Great’s time, is undoubtedly “The Tale of Alexander, the Russian Nobleman.” Here one can feel the strong influence of popular print novels, as well as Russian folklore works, in particular adventurous Russian fairy tales.
Alexander, the hero of this work, like Vasily and John, goes to Europe, which appears to the reader as a land of pleasure and gallantry, and in the second part of the work - as a world of adventure and knightly tournaments. In the city of Lille, Alexander falls in love with the beautiful Eleanor, their romance continues for a long time, but the heroes lose each other more than once, while the disguise of the heroes, which the author resorts to, does not allow the heroes to recognize each other. Alexander is a rather frivolous gentleman and Eleanor, having learned about his betrayal, dies of grief. Alexander falls in love with Hedwig-Dorothea, then with Tirra, who at the end of the story stabs herself to death over the body of the deceased Alexander out of grief.
A comic parallel to the main characters of the story, Alexander and Eleanor, is Vladimir with his many lovers.
The Story of the French Son enjoyed some popularity. All these stories portrayed the Russian person as a European, giving him qualities alien to the old Russian story: independence, resourcefulness, gallantry - what the new way of life, the new reality powerfully demanded.
Standing somewhat apart from the “stories” is “Excerpt from a Novel in Verse,” which is an autobiographical story of a young woman about the collapse of her hopes of being united in marriage with her loved one. For the first time in Russian literature, on behalf of a woman, free love is spoken openly, fearlessly, and the parental domostroev power, which opposes this feeling and ultimately destroys it, is openly condemned.
All these works were closer to folklore than to books literary tradition. They were not published, but, having pleased the readers, were distributed in lists and varied, which brought them closer to folklore and contributed to their images acquiring a touch of traditionalism and saturating the works with commonplaces.
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Introduction…………………………………………………….3
Chapter I Prose of the Peter I era…………………………..4-6
Chapter II Poetry of the early 18th century……………………7-9
Chapter III Drama and theater of the Peter the Great era………...10-12
Conclusion…………………………………………………. 13
References………………………………………….14
Introduction:
One of the most important achievements of the transition period, and Peter's time in particular, was the development of a new concept of man, a new solution to the problem of personality. Man ceases to be only a source of sinfulness. He is perceived as an active personality, valuable both in and of himself. to a greater extent for “services to the fatherland,” when not wealth and nobility of the family, but public benefit, intelligence and courage can elevate a person to one of the highest steps of the social ladder.
Peter I put into practice one of the main postulates of the Enlightenment - the demand for the extra-class value of a person. Later, in 1722, he would fix this provision legislatively in the “Table of Ranks of all ranks of the military, civil and court,” which opened the possibility for non-nobles to receive a noble rank for services to the state. It is possible that, first of all, it was this legislative act that Belinsky had in mind when he assessed the reforms of Peter I: “The reform of Peter the Great did not destroy, did not destroy the walls that separated one class from another in the old society, but it undermined the foundation of these walls, and if it didn’t knock them down, then it tilted them to one side, and now from day to day they are tilting more and more.”
A person in Peter’s time already deserves to have government policy explained to him, so that he does not act blindly on orders, but is imbued with an awareness of the necessity and benefits of certain government measures.
Against the background of great achievements in many areas of economic, political and social life, successes in the literature of the transition period were much more modest, although the literary process itself was very complex.
The inner world of a person becomes bifurcated. Instead of the “coincidence of opposites,” there appears “an antagonistic struggle between two hostile principles in all living things. These two principles - body and soul, passion and mind, natural attraction and moral dictates, national life and laws - coexist, but do not transform into each other. Each of them seeks to subjugate and suppress the other.” Hence such characteristic themes for Baroque works as “life is a dream” (remember death), as well as irrational (intuitive) knowledge of reality, a tendency towards mysticism.
Chapter I. Prose of the Peter I era
As Lebedeva notes, despite the rapid development of book printing in the era of Peter I, the main reading circle of the mass Russian reader was traditional handwritten collections of stories, or “histories,” as they began to be called at that time. The process of producing these collections in the transitional era was very intensified. Based on the composition of handwritten collections of stories, the genre composition of mass Russian fiction of the first quarter of the 18th century can be reconstructed, in the depths of which the type of authorless history of the Petrine era was formed - and despite its obvious dependence on the ancient Russian narrative tradition (anonymity and handwriting are characteristic features of the stories of the Petrine era, related its with ancient Russian literature), as well as from the Western European model of the genre (typological adventure plot), authorless histories, focused on their historical contemporaneity and created by people of their era, reflected both the novelty of Russian social life at the beginning of the 18th century and a new type of consciousness of their nameless authors.
One of the most typical examples of the genre is “The story of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky and the beautiful princess Irakli of the Florensky land.” Compositionally, the work falls into two unequal parts: the first, more laconic, tells about the life of the young nobleman Vasily Koriotsky, who entered the sovereign's service, and the second, more extensive, about his incredible adventures in Europe. The first part has a pronounced everyday descriptive character; the second, more conventional, is built partly on the model of Russian folk epics and robber tales, and partly on the model of a Western European love-adventure story. However, against the background of this clearly tangible narrative tradition, the novelty of the real signs of life of the Peter the Great era recorded in the story, as well as the novelty of the hero and the principles of the narrative, becomes even more obvious.
“Histories” about the sailor Vasily differs significantly from the narrative works of the second half of the 17th century. “Histories” are entirely secular works; their plot is fictional and develops along the lines of revealing the character of the main character, whose fate is the result of his actions.
Innovations begin literally from the beginning of the story: “In Russian Europe there is a certain lively nobleman...”. It is quite obvious that Russia could be called “Russian Europe” no earlier than the end of the reign of Peter I, and only in them could that typical biography of a young nobleman of the Peter I era be realized, the initial stage of which is quite traditional - the hero leaves home from “great poverty” “, but further events are directly determined by the novelty of the Russian way of life, because Vasily Koriotsky enters the service not just anywhere, but in the navy. The fleet is a symbol of everything new in Russian life at the beginning of the 18th century, Peter’s favorite brainchild, the most convenient springboard for a career, since it was sailors and naval officers who most often went abroad to receive an education.
The most important thing is than historical era first thirty years of the 18th century. determined the poetics of the authorless history that arose at that time and most clearly
characterized by the belonging of this genre to new literature is the dominant position of the category of hero in the system of aesthetic categories of storytelling. Both the plot, composition, and style of the story are determined by the central position of the character, the task of his fullest disclosure. All plot episodes of the story are built on the principle of contrast, the difference in life situations from happiness to unhappiness, from poverty to prosperity, in which personal merits and character traits can best manifest themselves.
New in Russian stories of the early 18th century. is the development of a love theme. This theme not only forms the beginning of the plot, but also serves to reveal the character of the hero. The European culture of love, which manifests itself in kneeling, playing the harp, poetic praise of a beautiful lady and the refined courtesy of relationships, is embodied in the story of the mutual love of a Russian sailor and a beautiful princess.
Tales of the first decades of the 18th century. also reflected the educational ideas of Peter the Great's time. This was most clearly reflected in such qualities of the hero as “sharpness of mind” and his success in science. It is these personal merits that are revealed both in the author’s direct statements and in the opinions of other characters in the story.
A compositional feature of Russian stories of Peter the Great's time is the inclusion of songs in them - “arias”, which are performed by the heroes during the action.
In terms of their composition, these “arias” are typical examples of love lyrics of the early 18th century, which combine features of the Renaissance and Baroque styles: allegorism, hypertrophied emotionality, mention ancient gods and goddesses (Cupid, Fortune, Mars).
These song-arias are not the fruit of the personal creativity of the authors of the “histories”. Common in everyday life and in handwritten collections, they are included in the fabric of the narrative almost mechanically, not expressing the individual feelings of the hero, but conveying their typology.
“The history of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky...”, standing on the threshold of new Russian literature, outlined the timid and at first difficult to discern origins of one of the most important ideological and aesthetic trends in the development of Russian literature not only in the 18th, but also in the 19th century: the search for an epochal type personality, the desire to comprehend a person through his historical era, and the history and essence of a historical era - through the type of personality formed by it. Thus, the authorless histories of the Peter the Great era underlie one of the most powerful genre traditions of Russian literature - the tradition of the historical novel and the novel about modernity.
Chapter II. Poetry of the early 18th century
Peter's reforms concerned primarily the practical sphere. A thin layer of the Russian intelligentsia, willy-nilly, was absorbed in this work and had no strength left to engage in art. Book monasticism was quickly losing its dominant position in verbal culture, and its replacement was gradually being prepared. The nobles served until death, old age, or serious injury. However, it was precisely in the era of Peter the Great that fundamental changes took place in Russian literary life, which predetermined the powerful development of poetry and prose.
Literature was allowed to perform not only practical functions, which Peter considered the most important. She also had to entertain; for entertainment, everyone could write freely - as a private person, outside and in addition to official duties. The writer became a private man, the private man became a writer. This, it seems to me, is the meaning of the revolution in literary life that happened under Peter. This was also a kind of reform, and a reform with far-reaching consequences. If the transformation of a writer into a contract worker, into an employee, into a literary day laborer meant a manifold increase in the flow of natural science, legal, medical, etc. translations aimed at public benefit, His transformation into a private person, independent of “Christian freedom,” immediately resonated in the thematic and genre areas. Two consequences immediately appeared: the bans on laughter and love were lifted.
In the splendid old-Moscow life, every day and every hour was planned down to the smallest detail - and there was no room for laughter. Even the Greek shepherds of the same faith found Russian good behavior difficult. The ban on laughter is explained by extra-literary reasons. Under Peter, laughter became an indispensable ingredient of court life. As a sovereign, as a secular head of the church, and finally, as a parishioner, Peter was pious; he knew the church service down to its intricacies and loved to sing on the choir. Feofan Prokopovich, being the pastor of the church, condemned the exemplary preacher of the Polish Baroque Tomasz Mlodzianowski for the comic effect that his concepts and applications produced. But in private life, Feofan wrote humorous epitaphs, for example, to Hierodeacon Adam, or the comic cycle “Thanksgiving from the servants of the brownies for the new-minded malt to the housekeeper Gerasim.” He did not hesitate to parody Scripture.
Numerous examples of love poems from the early 18th century, found in handwritten collections, allow us to get an idea of their character. They are distinguished by extreme diversity of vocabulary. Along with Church Slavonicisms, the presence of Ukrainian and Polish phraseology, there are inclusions of the business language of Peter the Great’s time, flavored with mannerism and gallant sophistication, which indicates the active linguistic influence of translated literature, which played a significant role in the formation of the Russian language in the first decades of the 18th century. Metaphors, images and symbols associated with the traditions of the Western European Renaissance appear in book poetry. Love poems are replete with the names of ancient gods and goddesses: the hero mourns his heart, shot by “the sharp arrow of Cupid” (Cupid).
Love lyrics of the first decades of the 18th century. painted in sensitive - sentimental tones, equipped with emotionally uplifting phraseology: the hearts of lovers are “wounded by sadness”, they shed “tearful rain”, their love is a “flame”, it “gives sparks in the heart”, ignites “fire”. Spectacular baroque comparisons of the beloved’s beauty with flowers, with precious stones and metals (“the most fragrant color, the most beautiful sapphire,” “the priceless beauty, the braliant,” “the eye has a magnet in itself”) create the unique character of these songs - early examples of Russian poetry.
In the formation of the “love phraseology” of literature, a certain role belongs to the folk lyrical song. The translated literature that came to Russia at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries had a significant impact on the love poetry of this time. through Poland.
The most important place in poetry was occupied by panegyric poems, solemn “kants” and victorious “vivas” on the occasion of Russia’s military successes or other important state events. This phenomenon is extremely important for the history of Russian literature of the period under review as a clear indicator of the continuity of literary traditions. “Kants” and “vivats” have a predecessor - a collection of baroque poems “in case” by Simeon of Polotsk “Rhythmologion”. They also have a clearly visible “descendant” - the classic ode. As an example, we can cite the famous cant of Demetrius of Rostov on the capture of Narva, which spoke of the struggle of the eagle, the symbol of Russia, with the lion, the symbol of Sweden. Everything is built on a skillful interweaving of mythological images: the lion, the emblem of Sweden, acquires the name “Nemean” and is thus associated with one of the labors of Hercules; Peter is a stone, and this translation often appeared in modern church sermons, viva is a Latin greeting cry, which it was Peter who officially introduced into Russian life.
Horatian-Epicurean themes and motifs, which were not characteristic of the previous literary tradition, are also noted in the poetry of Peter's time. Such, for example, is the “Drinking Song,” which was a half-retelling and half-translation of the famous student anthem “Gaudeamus igitur.” Its second part contains a number of specific details of the feast of the epicurean-minded nobles of Peter's time, immediately named (princes Masalsky, Ivan and Boris Golitsyn, etc.).
The transformation of the writer into a private person, not bound by “Christian freedom,” seems to me the most characteristic and promising feature of the literary life of Peter the Great’s time. The results of this metamorphosis were immediately reflected in the lifting of the ban on laughter and love. In the first quarter of the 18th century. these results were still in potency. The poetic quality was low, because poetry was practiced by amateurs. Somewhat later the quality also changed.
Description of work
One of the most important achievements of the transition period, and Peter's time in particular, was the development of a new concept of man, a new solution to the problem of personality. Man ceases to be only a source of sinfulness. He is perceived as an active personality, valuable in itself and even more so for “services to the fatherland,” when it is not the wealth and nobility of the family, but public benefit, intelligence and courage that can elevate a person to one of the highest steps of the social ladder.
In the literature of the first quarter of the 18th century. Old forms of literary works were also preserved. But they were filled with new content
The literature of Peter's time is very heterogeneous. This is due to the fact that foreign culture was introduced into both noble and folk culture. And this process took place under the condition that for many centuries Russian culture had not yet properly assimilated the Byzantine Orthodox cultural heritage.
In the literature of the Peter the Great era, folk art had little contact with the creativity of the elite. It is characteristic of the cultural life of the people that the peasantry was freed from the persecution of the Church of Archaic-Slavic paganism. There was less persecution of pagan festivals with their stormy buzzing, dancing, round dances, etc. Important Milestones Russian wars began to be imprinted on the people in the form of epics, historical songs, (mainly soldiers) in the form of fairy tales, parables. They reflected the Battle of Poltava, the capture of Azov and Narva. Folk art represents the exploits of the Russian soldier. The personality of Peter I is reflected in legendary form in epics, historical songs, and fairy tales.
The peasants also read traditional literature - educational works, "lives", collections of spiritual poems, incantations, medical books, calendars.
Noble literature reflected new realities of life. In works of fiction, new heroes are introduced - energetic and enterprising people with a “sharp mind” and “worthy intelligence.” Among them it is worth noting such prosaic works of art like “The Tale of Frol Skobeev”, “The History of Alexander, a Russian nobleman”, “The History of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky”. During this period, the number of printed books with non-religious content increased noticeably. These included scientific books and dictionaries, and fiction, and books everyday purpose. So in 1708 "Butts, how compliments are written" were published. newest sample letters of various contents using the latest vocabulary.
And the vocabulary of Peter’s time developed under the enormous influence of the West. The ruling class, especially its elite, spoke an amazing language, where foreign words and terms abounded.
The most prominent representative of Russian literature of that time was F. Prokopovich.
The literary creativity of Peter the Great's time prepared the entry of Russia into the era of classicism.
Development of theatrical art
In 1702, a public theater opened in Moscow, in a building built on Red Square. German actors from the group I. Kupst and O. Furst played there. The repertoire consisted of German, French, and Spanish plays. However, such a theater was still a rare occurrence. More common were private theaters, which were known to a narrow circle of spectators. In the era of Peter the Great, students of various academies, theological seminaries, etc. were interested in theater. In their productions, hints were made about ongoing political events, for example, the mutinies of the Streltsy, the betrayal of Mazepa, and opponents of enlightenment were ridiculed.
They staged theaters and purely historical plays. The most famous of them was F. Prokopovich's tragicomedy "Vladimir".
Prominent figures in the theater business were F. Prokopovich, Doctor Bideon, Fyodor Zhukovsky.
Lecture 2-3. Literary culture of the Peter the Great era
1. New programs of Peter I in the field of education, science and culture, their nature.
2. Literary and philological activity of Feofan Prokopovich.
3. Handwritten stories of the first third of the 18th century.
4. Syllabic poetry.
Literature
By general issues:
Nikolaev S.I. Literary culture of the Peter the Great era. St. Petersburg, 1996.
On the first question:
Gukovsky G.A. Russian literature of the 18th century. 2nd ed. M., 1998. P. 13-48.
Panchenko A.M. Russian culture on the eve of Peter the Great. L., 1984.
Klyuchevsky A.I. Historical portraits. M., 1990. P. 151-228.
Nikolaev S.I. Literary culture of the Petrine era. St. Petersburg, 1996.
Stennik Yu.V. Peter I in Russian literature of the 18th century: Texts and comments. St. Petersburg, 2006
Safronova L.A. Poetics of Slavic theater. XVII-XVIII centuries M., 1981.
On the second question:
Prokopovich F. Works. Ed. I.P. Eremina. M., L., 1961
Nichik V.M. Feofan Prokopovich. M., 1979
Nikolaev S.I. Op. op., pp. 99, 109, 111, 131
Buranok O.M. Russian literature of the 18th century: Peter's era; Feofan Prokopovich. M., 2003
On the third question:
Russian stories of the first third of the 18th century / Comp. G.N. Moiseeva. M., L., 1966
On the fourth question:
Sazonova L.A. Poetry of Russian Baroque. M., 1991
1. The era of the first third of the 18th century in the history of Russian literature and culture is the only one that has retained the old tradition of the name - the Peter the Great era. On the one hand, this is a tribute to the great reformer, “who created from it the very metamorphosis, that is, transformation,” on the other hand, it is impossible to accommodate all the diversity within the framework of one definition literary trends and movements. Let's name some of the existing attempts to designate the era - false classicism, pre-classicism, scholastic literature, panegyric style, baroque. In turn, the phrase “Petrine era” makes it possible to focus on the stylistic syncretism of the era.
The chronological framework of this period is 1700-1730, although there is no single point of view on this issue. Some scientists, for example, propose to count it from the moment of the birth of Peter and end with his death.
There is no single point of view regarding its literariness/non-literariness. A.N. Pypin: “The time of Peter the Great did not create literature in artistic direction».
V.N. Peretz: “... in literary terms, the literature of his (Peter’s) time is distinguished by its poverty.”
D.S. Likhachev: “This is the most unliterary era in the entire existence of Russian literature.”
S.I. Nikolaev believes that these judgments have grounds, however, the literature of the Petrine era is not as scarce as it seems at first glance. Thus, Stefan Yavorsky wrote and delivered more than 320 sermons, Dmitry Rostovsky - more than 100, Feofan Prokopovich - more than 70. Dozens of works of original and translated drama are known. John Maksimovich, Metropolitan of Chernigov, owns more than 40,000 lines of poetry. He amazed his contemporaries with “his prolix writing.”
The figures of the era were also interested in issues of literary aesthetics. Peter, like no other monarch, attached great importance to the Word - and not only as an element of propaganda. He himself was an extraordinary stylist. And for his contemporaries he was the personification of the idea of “homo scriptus” on the throne. Foreigners (Weber) noted his “innate eloquence.”
But at the same time, no works of significance for Russian literature were actually created during this period.
What, then, is the real significance of the era?
L.N. Tolstoy called it “the knot of Russian life.” “The meaning of such “knots” from the point of view of the history of literature,” says 20th century researcher V.N. Toporov, “is that they refer not so much to themselves, but to what is outside them - to the previous and next, and therefore their role is to historically assess and forecast at the same time, to indicate the end and the beginning, to outline the paths connecting them.”
1. Peter I (about his personality and activities, see in detail V.O. Klyuchevsky, Decree op.) owns outstanding initiatives in the field of education and culture.
Peter's educational initiatives:
1) organization of study of Russian people abroad (see: detailed commentary on the notes of P. Tolstoy, B. Sheremetyev, Count Neplyuev and others in the textbook by G. A. Gukovsky, pp. 18 ff). In this regard, one should also consider a trip as part of the famous Embassy of Peter himself. This is how Feofan Prokopovich describes this trip: “Foreign countries, with different teachings and arts, stole his heart. He imagined not to be there, as if he would not be in this world at all; not to see and learn the operations of mathematics, physical arts, political rules and the most famous civil, military and naval architecture - these and other teachings cannot be adopted and like the most precious goods cannot be brought to Russia, just as if he was destined not to live.”
What are the consequences of these trips of Peter abroad?
And again let us turn to the legacy of Theophanes: “Well, did you just become the best? Did he only seem good and perfect to himself? We are truly the spirit of this man. That he had not communicated his own and his own good to his entire fatherland, he would never have considered it a good thing for himself. What we don’t see blooming, but previously unknown to us - aren’t these all its plants?”
2. 1712 - Peter’s decree on the organization of secular technical schools: mathematics, navigation (later the Maritime Academy), engineering and artillery - in the capitals, mountain schools - in the provinces.
3. 1714 - Peter’s decree on the organization of digital schools in all provinces.
4. 1721 - decree on the organization of diocesan schools.
5. 1724 – approval of the Charter of the Academy of Sciences.
6. Translations and publication of educational and other literature. It should be noted that the repertoire of translated literature in the era of Peter was, firstly, subject to strict state necessity, and secondly, it was distinguished by a pluralism of tastes and tolerance, unusual for that time. K. Aksakov remarked on this matter: “Peter exposed and struck down one-sidedness.” S.I. Nikolaev wrote that the era of Peter was “not so much a change in cultural guidelines as a search for them.”
Thirdly, the almost complete indifference of Peter and his like-minded people to works of art.
Under Peter the following were translated:
1) works on the history, theory and practice of state building (modern “strata”, “articles” and legal provisions of European states; these were business materials for a very narrow circle of people; the focus was on the works of jurists of the 17th century, the creators of the theory of “natural law” " - S. Pufendorf and G. Grotius);
2) instructions and guidelines for the ruler with the substantiation of the idea of enlightened absolutism (“Image of a Christian-political ruler” by Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, “Political Testament” by Cardinal Richelieu and “A Brief Book of Political Courtesies” by Cardinal Mazarin);
3) a series of instructions for a private person (two essays are especially significant: “Examples of how different compliments are written,” 1708 and “An honest mirror of youth, or an indication for everyday behavior,” 1717; the first essay is a letter book, in which, along with official letters from monarchs, there were samples of private letters: “a letter of gratitude for a good meal”, “for good advice to a friend”, “happy new year to a certain noble lady”, etc.; about the meaning of the second essay G. Gukovsky wrote the following: “ ... to instill in people a new ideal of a well-mannered person, calm and restrained in society, respectful to parents and elders, respectful of others' personality, loving cultural entertainment. Subtle feelings, humanity, self-respect and social discipline were preached by this book");
4) publications of a new, “correct” European history (Kopievsky I. “A Brief Introduction to Every History”, Pufendorf S. “A Brief Introduction to European History”), as well as the works of ancient authors (Titus Livia, Livia Julia Flora, Josephus, Julius Caesar);
5) fiction (Fenelon “The Adventures of Telemachus”, Barclay “Argenida” and some others; plot prose with a love-adventurous plot and mystical literature remained on the periphery).
In total, more than 600 books were published under Petya.
A student of Lomonosov, the rector of Moscow University, Popovsky, wrote about the significance of these initiatives: “... from numeral and diocesan schools to the Maritime Academy, the gentry cadet corps, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Arts and Arts. ... From learning by heart, inspiring with the promise of a good position, and more often with a whip and a ban on marriage, to the appeal of “noble zeal for enlightenment by the teachings of reason.”
Peter's reforms in the field of culture
A.M. Panchenko wrote about the Peter the Great era as an era of “deep cultural stratification and corresponding cultural bilingualism.” On the one hand, “the language of the Orthodox Middle Ages in a national version,” on the other, “the language of European post-Renaissance culture.” Hence, according to the researcher, the dual description and interpretation of most of Peter’s actions in the field of culture (for details on these reforms, see: Panchenko A.M. Decree. cit.)
1) the presence of two fonts became a sign of stratification in Russian society; a new font (based on the Italian "antiqua") was introduced by Peter in 1708;
2) calendar reform (in mid-December 1699, a decree on a new calendar appeared, previously - from the Creation of the World, now - from the Nativity of Christ; the annual celebration of the new year is now held on January 1st; at the same time, the concept of the century was introduced; for supporters of Peter this reform was directly related to the Europeanization of Russia, the Russian calendar was brought into line with the Western calendar; for traditionalists, opponents of reforms, the fact was the tsar’s encroachment on time itself (!));
3) the adoption by Peter in 1721 of the title “Father of the Fatherland” (traditionalists considered it possible to use this title only in relation to the patriarch; Peter, thus, abolished the institution of the patriarchate);
4) the so-called laughter reforms (among them A.M. Panchenko includes Peter’s organization of the “all-laughing council” and assemblies; within the framework of the first, Peter, according to A.M. Panchenko, asserts the “natural right to fun”; the second - establishes the measure such play and fun; this becomes equality and freedom, but, the scientist emphasizes, only in fun and laughter);
5) the publication of the first newspaper “Vedomosti” is also associated with the name of Peter (1703 was the year of birth of Russian journalism).
In the first year, only 39 issues were published; in the future it also appeared irregularly. Since 1712, it was published either in Moscow or in St. Petersburg. It was quite small in volume; as we understood it, there were only articles in it, information about remarkable facts in Russia and abroad.
Often the newspaper was edited by Peter himself, and he also indicated the material that needed to be translated from foreign newspapers. The purpose of publishing the newspaper is to expand the general cultural horizons of readers, as well as to promote Peter’s actions in the field of civil and military politics.
Before us is a sample of the information part of one of the issues of the Vedomosti newspaper: “In Moscow, again, now 400 copper cannons, howitzers and mortars have been poured. Those cannons have a cannonball of 24, 18, 12 pounds. ... By the command of His Majesty, Moscow schools are multiplying, and 45 people listen to philosophy and have already graduated from dialectics. More than 300 people study at the mathematical navigator school and accept good science. In Moscow, from November 24 to December 24, 386 male and female people were born. From Persia they write: the Indian king sent gifts to our Great Sovereign of an elephant and quite a few other things. From the city of Shamakhi he was released to Astrakhan by land. ... Olonets priest Ivan Okulov recruited about a thousand hunters, crossed the Swedish border and attacked the Swedes, beat 450 people, and only two people were wounded from the priest’s army...”;
6. Another brainchild of the “transformer of Russia” was the theater. During his stay in Western Europe, he became convinced of the enormous role of public theater and decided to revive it in his homeland, but not as a courtier, but to organize a public theater public theater. K.A. Gukovsky talks about the creation of the Petra Theater. For this purpose, the ambassadorial clerk Jan Splavsky (Hungarian in Russian service) was sent to Germany (Danzig). He had to enter into an agreement with one of the “good Western troupes.” With great difficulty he succeeded. And now the head of the troupe of German actors, Johann Kunst, writes to Peter: “... to please the royal majesty with all plans, fun and always kind, ready, and should be.” A “theater hall” was erected on Red Square. In 1703 they began theatrical performances. In the same year, Kunst died, and Otto Fürst became the head of the theater in his place. Peter tried in every possible way to make the Moscow people interested in the theater. In 1705, he ordered “comedies in the Russian and German languages to operate and during those comedies, musicians on various instruments to play on designated days in the week - Monday and Thursday, and watching all ranks of people of the Russian people and foreigners to groom freely and freely without any fear, and in those days there were police gates in the Kremlin and in China, the city and White City at night until 9 o'clock in the morning, do not lock up, do not have a duty on those passing by, so that those watching the action go to the comedy willingly.” The theater existed for only a few years; in 1707 it collapsed. Nevertheless, “the theatrical enterprise of Kunst and Fürst, which has an official character, did not pass without a trace. ... starting from the first years of the 18th century, theatrical performances no longer stopped in Russian capitals" (G.A. Gukovsky)."
The nature of Peter's theatrical repertoire was analyzed by S.I. Nikolaev. Both translated and original plays were performed on stage.
Among translated plays, the first place was occupied by the so-called “English plays,” but from the German theater (close to the traditions of folk theater). Among them were significantly revised plays by French and Italian playwrights (about Alexander the Great, Scipio the Elder, Julius Caesar, Bayazet, Tamerlane, Don Juan).
The translated plays, thus, 1) introduced the Russian audience to the traditions of Western European literature (Cornell, Calderon, Moliere, Gryphius, Lohenstein, etc.); 2) they depicted a world new to the Russian people, “noble, sublime, filled with superhuman fortitude, ardent passions, admiring with enchanting splendor and splendor” (G.A. Gukovsky); 3) introduced technical innovations - fireworks, elements of syncretism (inserted arias and ballet numbers).
The original plays were traditional church and school allegorical performances, close to Western morality plays. Among the heroes are historical characters and personified concepts such as the “Orthodox Church”. “Peace”, “Earthly Love”. Mythological characters also appeared - Mars, Vulcan, Bellona. Between the main actions there were interludes. Their main character- a favorite of Western theater, a jester, a merry fellow, a drunkard, a wit or a fool, whose funny antics entertained the viewer.
However, the essence of these plays is political and propaganda. The titles themselves testify to this: “A terrible image of the second coming of the Lord to earth ...”, “The kingdom of the world, previously destroyed by idolatry and the preaching of the holy Supreme Apostle Peter, the angel of the most luminous and most powerful sovereign of our Tsar and Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich ..., again restored”, “The Zeal of Orthodoxy”, “The Liberation of Livonia and Ingria”.
S.I. Nikolaev noted that “... at first glance, the theater’s repertoire looked brilliant.” And indeed, in snowy provincial Muscovy the same plays were staged that were successfully performed on the stages of the first European theaters. At the same time, there were also serious shortcomings: the plays were translated not from the original languages, but from their German translations, which were also significantly simplified; monologues were rearranged; sometimes, to please the undemanding public, the meaning of the entire work was changed.
In general, thanks to Peter’s reforms, many new things appeared in the literary life of Russia:
1) there was a change in the motivation of literary creativity (literary pursuits began to be viewed as “healing”, “as idle time used for benefit”, “as a way to bring fame”);
2) the idea of literary property (inscriptions and dedications) gradually formed;
3) the public reputation of literary work increased (the spread of legends about the children of Alexei Mikhailovich as talented writers);
4) new relationships in literary culture:
a certain place in it began to be occupied by the public (“learned world”, “discreet reader”), criticism (the mask of Zoilus - an evil, bilious, envious critic); patronage.
All of Peter's reforms were secular in nature.
2. A worthy companion of Peter and brilliant literary figure era became Feofan Prokopovich. The Dane Gaven wrote about him: “This is excellent educated person in his knowledge he has almost no equal, especially among Russian spiritualists. In addition to history, theology and philosophy, he has deep knowledge of mathematics and a great love for this science. He knows a number of European languages, of which he speaks two, although in Russia he does not want to use any other than Russian, and only in extreme cases speaks Latin, in the knowledge of which he is not inferior to any academician.”
In science, two versions of his biography are known ((Bayer and Rudnev). In general, it is typical for the formation of a cultural figure of this era: studying at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy (at that time one of the best educational institutions in Russia and Ukraine), accepting the union, traveling with educational goal in Europe, studying at the College of St. Athanasius in Rome, returning to the fold of Christianity, teaching at the Kivo-Mohyla Academy.
Feofan’s activities after returning from Europe already characterize him as a representative of the early European Enlightenment. His lectures are marked by the following features:
1) awareness and creative use literary and theoretical experience Western Europe(Theophanes is especially fascinated by Torquato Tasso’s “Jerusalem Liberated”; he equates it with Virgil’s “Aeneid”);
2) a sharply critical attitude towards Polish-Latin literary and preaching activity;
3) an attempt to rely on modern literary material (at the same time, he gave examples from his own literary experiences); emphasized the high importance of the folk language;
4) high appreciation of such concepts as “clarity”, “vision”, his favorite word “light”; often used the concepts of “brevity” and “necessity”, introduced the term “rules”, and used it in the Cartesian sense;
5) defended the need to educate all segments of the population, including peasants; ridiculed the belief in miracles and relics, and denounced ignorant representatives of the church.
In 1706 he greeted Peter in the form of a brilliant speech-sermon. In 1711, he participated with Peter in the Prut campaign, and then moved to St. Petersburg. He was appointed by Peter to high church positions, and from 1716 he became the de facto leader of all church affairs in Russia. And this is no coincidence. “The Church for him is the unifying principle of the nation” (Winter).
The basis of Feofan’s political propaganda is the conviction of the need for a monarchy for Russia and precisely in the form of the autocracy of Peter, the “ideal sovereign,” for his primary duty is “the benefit of the whole people”: “... wonderfully all Russian people You have pretty much updated everything.” Proving the truth of Peter's royal power, he resorted not only to ecclesiastical, but also to secular argumentation - the theory of natural law. His sermons are topical. He compared two types government controlled(old pre-Petrine Rus' and the new transformed), spoke about new buildings, strong fortresses, the Senate, governors, the structure of the court and laws, the growth of education, the construction of the fleet. In his sermons he offered lively sketches of characters (similar to the famous book by La Bruyère), and even resorted to literary anecdotes (see S.I. Nikolaev, Decree op.). His best sermons include: “Strong as death is love” (1717), “On the power and honor of the Tsar” (1718), “A word of praise about the Russian fleet” (1722).
Feofan also acted as a theorist of literature and art. Two of his works are known: “Poetics” (1705, published in 1786) and “Rhetoric” (1706-1707, published in 1986).
Key points:
1) rationalism and normativity of art, reliance on rules;
2) the functions of art are “pleasure and benefit”; the principle of verisimilitude was also supported;
3) in the field of drama, he insisted on a five-act structure of plays, a small number of characters, and reducing plot time to a minimum; along with tragedies and comedies, he named an intermediate genre - tragic comedy (the experience of Plautus); as an example, he developed his own tragic comedy “Vladimir” (1705);
4) in the area of style, distinguished three syllables (high, middle and low); opposed the “violence” of style, the “darkness” of style, the excessive use of tropes and figures, “difficult trifles” and “curious verses”;
5) he developed his own theory of poetry, according to which “the first thing that is primarily required in any poetic work is invention, or imitation, if it is not there, then no matter how many poems you write, they will all remain nothing more than poems, and should be called their poetry will, of course, be unfair. Or if you want to call it poetry, you will call it dead.”
He wrote a few poems himself (about 1000 lines of poetry), carefully honed them and took his time in publishing and distributing them. He composed epigrams, satires, panegyric works, idylls and elegies.
3. A detailed analysis of handwritten stories will be offered at practical lesson. In the lecture we will only discuss their place and significance in the history of Russian literature (for more details on this, see: Moiseeva G.N. Op. cit.):
1) the stories about Vasily Koriotsky, Alexander, the son of the nobility stand out from the mass of narrative works of the first third of the 18th century by a number of characteristic qualities that allow us to consider them as a special stage in the development of Russian prose;
2) the most important and defining quality of these stories is their ideological significance. The “histories” reveal the advanced, educational in nature, ideas of the Peter the Great era: the need to evaluate a person based on his personal merits, and not his breed; propaganda of science and knowledge; affirmation of a completely secular worldview;
3) in the stories there is also complete liberation fiction: writers are free to choose a theme, plot, characterization of the hero;
4) at the same time, any chronological timing is excluded in them; descriptions have almost disappeared historical events;
5) art form the stories are eclectic; it reflects the search for means to express a new attitude to life, unusual, not yet established concepts. In them one can still see a mechanical combination of the traditions of Western European chivalric romance, ancient Russian literature and folklore.
4. Syllabic lyrics of the first third of the 18th century are in most cases anonymous. Only a few names and surnames have been preserved: Ernst Gluck, Johann Pause (Paus), Willim Mons, John Maksimovich.
On the one hand, religious hymns of German authors, painted in mystical and religious tones, stood out (102 of their translations are known); on the other hand, the first experiments in love lyrics. Its characteristic features were identified at one time by V.N. Peretz: syllabic size, slightly toned; quite frequent use of Polish and Little Russian love phraseology; abundant cases of Church Slavonicisms; the use of characteristics characteristic of the Peter the Great era foreign words(unless absolutely necessary).
It is also necessary to pay attention to Ivan Maksimovich’s poem “Reverent Desires” (1718). This is the only example of religious-erotic poetry with its characteristic mixture of biblical (Song of Songs) and ancient images; the author's focus is on the desire Christian soul to the Heavenly Fatherland, the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ) to the Bride (Church).
Literature of the Peter I era
Zapadov V. A. Russian literature of the 18th century, 1770-1775. Reader M., "Enlightenment", 1979.
"Vedomosti" Butts, how different compliments are written Youth, an honest mirror History of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky and the beautiful princess Irakli of the Florensky land
"VEDOMOSTI"
FROM No. 1 FOR 1703
In Moscow, again, now 400 copper cannons, howitzers and martyrs have been poured. Those cannons have 24, 18 and 12 pound cannonballs. Howitzers with bombs are worth a pound and half a pound. Bomb martyrs are nine-, three- and two-pound and less. And there are many more forms of cannons, howitzers and martyrs ready for casting, great and medium. And now there is more than 40,000 poods of copper in the cannon yard, which is prepared for new casting. By order of His Majesty, Moscow schools are multiplying, and 45 people are studying philosophy and have already graduated from dialectics. More than 300 people study at the mathematical navigation school and accept good science. In Moscow, from November 24 to December 24, 386 people were born, male and female. They write from Persia. The Indian king sent an elephant and many other things as gifts to our great sovereign. From the city of Shamakhi he was released to Astrakhan by land. They write from Kazan. On the Soku River they found a lot of oil and copper ore; a fair amount of copper was smelted from that ore, from which they hope to generate considerable profit for the Moscow state. They write from Siberia. In the Chinese state, the Jesuits were not loved by the Velmi for their cunning, and some of them were executed by death. They write from Olonets. The city of Olonets, priest Ivan Okulov, having gathered foot hunters with a thousand people, went abroad to the Svei border and defeated the Svei Rugozenskaya, and Hipponskaya, and Sumerskaya, and Kerisurskaya outposts. And at those outposts of the Swedes he defeated a large number of Swedes and took the Reitar banner, drums and swords, enough guns and horses, and he, the priest, took supplies and belongings, and thus pleased his soldiers. And he burned all the remaining belongings and grain supplies that he could not take. And he burned the Solovskaya manor, and around Solovskaya, many manors and villages, about a thousand courtyards, he burned. And at the above-mentioned outposts, according to the tale of the languages that he took, 50 people were killed by the Swedish cavalry, 400 people by the infantry; 50 of their cavalry and 100 of their infantry were gone, and only two soldiers were wounded from the priest’s army. In Moscow, January 1703 on day 2
FROM No. 22 FOR 1704
From Narva they write August on 21 days. This August, on the 9th day, the glorious and strong city of Narva (Rugodev), with God's help, the army of our most pious sovereign was taken by storm in three quarters of an hour, although the enemy undermined a certain part of ours by undermining, but he could not intimidate the soldiers, then the enemy entered another, old fortress ran in and beat shamad (surrender), in order to receive an ocord (agreement) or at least a pardon (mercy), but our soldiers did not want to hear of it, and at that hour they burst into that fortress, and then into the castle itself, where the enemy a treat (treat) was carried out, and the babies were also allowed into this world for a little while. This assault, by the grace of the Most High, ended miraculously, because less than three hundred of our men fell during the entire assault. And how many have been conquered in this city and how many enemy people have been beaten, and this will be reported from now on. In Moscow the summer of the Lord is August 1704 on the 22nd day
EXAMPLES OF HOW TO WRITE DIFFERENT COMPLIMENTS
(Excerpt)
CONGRATULATING WRITING TO THE FEMALE ON NAME DAY
My lady! Since I have no doubt that on this joyful day, which your highly-dear name represents, you will respond to many verbal congratulatory compliments, then I am so unhappy that for the sake of excluding my congratulations I cannot add to others, but I hope that you will not It will be unpleasant if I announce in writing how much fun I had on my dear name day, and besides, I am sending my deepest congratulations to you in these small lines via mail. May God grant that you may be able to live through such a memorable day many times more with ever-increasing happiness and, when it happens again, so that we are then obliged to see you from some significant kindness; Now I, as your devoted servant, dare you, my lady, to transport you through this small commemoration sent with this in the hope that you will accept the calico (Such.) with an inclined heart and henceforth your affection will recommend me to be allowed, as I am also against Moreover, in all these cases, I will not leave myself in the case. Yours is obedient to my mistress.
YOUTH HONEST MIRROR
(Excerpts)
First of all, the children of their father and mother should be supported in great honor. And when their parents tell them to do something, always hold your hat in your hands, and don’t lift it up in front of them, and don’t sit next to them, and don’t sit before them (Sit down, sit down.), don’t look out the window with your whole body in front of them, but everything in a secret way, with great respect, not in a row with them, but slightly yielding behind them to the side, like some page or servant. Do not command anything in the house in your own name, but in the name of your father or mother, ask the servants in a pleading manner, unless you have special servants who are subject to it yourself, so that the custom of servants and servants is not for two masters and mistresses, but only for one they willingly serve the master. And besides this, quarrels often occur and great riots arise between them in the house, so that they themselves do not recognize what should be done by whom. Children do not have the right to scold anyone or reproach anyone with derogatory words without a parent’s express order. And if it is necessary, they must do it politely and courteously. You shouldn’t interrupt your parents’ speeches, or even contradict them, and you shouldn’t interrupt their peers in their speeches, but wait for them to speak out. Often do not repeat one task, do not lean on a table, bench or anything else and do not be like a village peasant lying in the sun, but you must stand straight. Don’t speak without asking, and when they do speak, they should speak favorably, not with a shout, and speak from the heart or with enthusiasm, not as if they were crazy. But everything that they say must be true, without adding or subtracting anything. It is appropriate to offer your need in pleasant and courteous words, just like they allegedly happened to talk to some foreign high-ranking person, so that they get used to it. It is indecent for them to wander all over the table with their hands or feet, but eat quietly. And do not draw, stab or knock with forks and knives on the plates, tablecloth or dish, but must sit quietly and quietly, straight, and not with your hips on. When parents or someone else asks (calls) them, they must respond to them and answer as soon as they hear the voice. And then say: “what do you want, sir father” or “major mother”, or: “what do you order me, sir”, and not like this: “what, what, what, as you say, what do you want.” And it is not insolent to answer: “Yes, that’s right,” and then suddenly say in refusal: “No”; but to say: “So, my sir, I hear, sir; I understood, sir, I will do as you, sir, ordered.” And not to laugh, supposedly despising them and not listening to their commands and words, but to regularly take note of everything that happens to them, and not to run back many times and suddenly not ask again. When they speak to people, they should be decent, courteous, polite, reasonable, and not talk a lot; then listen and don’t interrupt other people’s speeches, but let everyone speak out and then present your opinion, which is worthy, to present. If a sad deed or speech happens, then you should be sad and have regret. On a joyful occasion, be joyful and show yourself joyful with those who are joyful. And in direct matters and in constant matters, be constant, and do not at all despise or reject other people’s senses, but if the opinion is worthy and suitable, then praise it and agree with it; if something is doubtful, he should incriminate himself in that, because it is not worthy for him to reason about it. And if something can be disputed, then do it with courtesy and polite words and give your reasoning for why. And if anyone desires advice or believes something, then they should advise as much as possible and keep the entrusted matter secret... Always spend time in pious deeds, but never be idle or idle, for it happens that some people live lazily, not cheerfully , and their minds become darkened and worn out, then no good can be expected from that, except for a decrepit body and a wormhole, which becomes fat due to laziness. A young youth must be cheerful, hardworking, diligent and restless, like a pendulum in a clock, so that a cheerful master encourages the servants, just as a cheerful and playful horse makes its rider diligent and careful. Therefore, it is possible, in part, by looking at the diligence and cheerfulness or zeal of the servants, to recognize what kind of government the master consists of and maintains. For it is not in vain that the proverb says: “As the abbot, so are the brethren”... A young nobleman, or nobleman, if he is perfect in his exercise (in learning), and especially in languages, in horse riding, dancing, in sword fighting, and can be good to start a conversation, besides he is eloquent and learned in books, he can be a straight courtier with such leisure time. A straightforward courtier should be bold, courageous and not timid, but should speak to the sovereign with great respect. And he can present and report his own case and does not rely on others. For where can you find someone who could be as faithful to someone as to himself? Anyone who is shy at court leaves the court empty-handed. For when someone serves the master faithfully, then he deserves a sure and reliable reward. And whoever serves seeking mercy is rewarded only with mercy. For the sake of any mercy, no one should serve anyone except God. And what to the sovereign for the sake of honor and profit and for temporary favor. An intelligent courtier does not announce his intentions and will to anyone, lest he be forestalled by another, who sometimes has the desire to do so... A youth must be very courteous and polite, both in words and in deeds: he is not impudent and not pugnacious, he also has the person who met him, three steps short of reaching him and taking off his hat in a pleasant manner, and not those who passed by, looking back, congratulating (Greeting, wishing health.). For being polite in words and holding a hat in your hands is not unprofitable, but worthy of praise. And it is better when they say about someone: “he is a polite, humble gentleman and a fine fellow,” than when they say about whom: “he is an arrogant fool”... Young boys should always talk to each other foreign languages, so that they can get used to it - and especially when they happen to say something secret, so that the servants and maids cannot find out and so that they can be recognized from other ignorant fools: for every merchant “praises his goods and sells them as best he can... Young boys You shouldn’t snore, blink your eyes, or lower your neck and shoulders, as if you were jealous, trust, and don’t play pranks with your hands, grab, or do similar frenzy, so that mockery doesn’t really cause habits and customs, for such are the accepted habits of a young person. the boy will be greatly disfigured and shamed so much that later in the houses, laughing at them, they will be teased... It is indecent to be and dance at a wedding in boots and gaols (Spurs), so that the clothes of the female sex will be torn off and a great ringing will be caused by the gaols , besides, the husband is not so hasty in boots than without boots. Also, when in a conversation or in a company it happens to be standing in a circle, or sitting in a standing position, or talking to each other, or dancing with someone, you should not spit indecently on anyone in the circle , but to the side. And if in a chamber (Room) where there are a lot of people, then take the harkotins in a handkerchief, and in an impolite manner in a chamber or in a church do not throw swords on the floor, so as not to harm others, or move to the side (or behind the window) throw it out), so that no one sees, and wipe it with your feet as cleanly as possible... And this is no small vile thing when someone often blows his nose, as if blowing a trumpet, or sniffs loudly, as if screaming, and thus in the arrival of other people and In church, small children are frightened and intimidated. It is also extremely indecent when someone cleans his nose with a handkerchief or finger, as if applying some kind of ointment, and especially in front of other honest people.
What should a young boy do when he is sitting in conversation with others?
When you happen to sit at the table with others, then keep yourself in order according to this rule: first, cut your nails, so that they don’t appear to be lined with velvet. Wash your hands and sit down decently, sit up straight and don’t grab the first one in the dish, don’t eat like a pig, and don’t blow into your ear (into soup, stew) so that it splashes everywhere, don’t sniff when you eat, don’t drink first, be abstinent and run away from drunkenness, drink and eat as much as you need, be the last one in the dish. When they offer you something, take some of it, give the rest to someone else and thank him. Don’t let your hands lie on the table for a long time, don’t swing your legs everywhere. When you drink, do not wipe your lips with your hand, not with a towel, and do not drink until you have swallowed food. Do not lick your fingers or gnaw the bones, but cut with a knife. Do not cut teeth with a knife, but with a toothpick, and cover your mouth with one hand when brushing your teeth; When you put bread to your breasts, do not cut it, eat what is in front of you, and do not grab anything else. If you want to lay it in front of someone, do not press your fingers like some peoples (People.) now customary. Don’t chomp over your food like a pig and don’t scratch your head; Don’t swallow a piece, don’t speak, because that’s what peasants do. Frequently sneezing, blowing your nose and coughing is not good. When you eat an egg, cut off the bread first and be careful that it doesn’t leak out and eat it soon. Do not break eggshells and do not drink while you are eating the egg; Meanwhile, don’t stain the tablecloths and don’t lick your fingers, don’t make a fence of bones, bread crusts, etc. around your table. When you stop eating, thank God, wash your hands and face and rinse out your mouth.HISTORY ABOUT THE RUSSIAN SAILOR VASILIY KORIOTSKY AND ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL QUEEN HERACLIA OF THE FLORENSE LAND
In Russian Europe there is a certain living nobleman, his name is John, after the small surname Koriotskaya. He had a son, Vasily, with a very beautiful face. And this nobleman came into great poverty and had no food. At the same time, his son spoke to his father: “My lord, father! I ask you for your parental blessing, if you please let me go into service: then I will be given a salary in the service, from which I will send you for your needs and for food.” Having heard his father, he gave him a blessing and sent him away from him. Vasily, having taken his father’s blessing, went to St. Petersburg and enlisted in the navy as a sailor. And they sent him to the ship by definition. Arriving on the ship, as usual, the sailor was very unflattering and all the other sailors were in the sciences. And he fell in love with all the noble Persians in his service, whom everyone loved and praised beyond measure. And the fame of him was great for his science and service, since he knew the sailor's great men keenly in the sciences: across the seas, where there are islands and deep seas, and shoals, and rapids, and winds, and celestial planets, and airs. And for that science he was the eldest on the ships and was glorified in great glory by all the senior sailors. At the same time they ordered to march and select junior sailors overseas to Galandia, for the sciences of arithmetic and various languages; Only this Vasily was not sent as a senior sailor with the junior sailors, and was left in Kranstatt. But he only asked, at his own request, to be sent overseas with sailors to Galandia for a better knowledge of the sciences. At his request, he was sent with other sailors and sent overseas to Galandia with junior sailors. After leaving Kranstatt, some days passed, sailors on ships arrived in Galandia and with them Vasily Koriotsky. In Galland they were quartered and all the junior sailors were assigned to merchant houses. And he, Vasily, for his services and for his seniority, was given equal positions in the house of a noble and wealthy guest. And this sailor Vasily stood at attention at the guest’s house and listened to him in everything. And this Galanian guest saw him in obedience and in the sciences he loved him very keenly and dearly, and sent him on his ships with goods to England, in whom he began to trust better than all his clerks, and ordered him in everything, and handed him money and goods. And when they arrived in England with ships, they declared the goods, according to merchant custom, sold everything, and took the goods belonging to Galand onto the ship and went back. In which he, Vasily, added a great profit to the guest of Galana, and also received all sorts of purchases. And he was noble in England and in Galland from all noble persons. And upon his arrival in Galandia, he sent four thousand two-ruble gold efimki to his father in Russia through a bill of exchange, which his father received. And he wrote to him so that he would come to see him, his father, and receive the blessing. And when the appointed term came for the student sailors to march to St. Petersburg, to Russia, then all the sailors went, and this guest began to ask Vasily Koriotsky not to go to Russia, because he, the guest, loved him, Vasily, like his own son . But only he, Vasily Koriotsky, began to ask the guest to go to his father’s house for a meeting and announced to him that his father was in great antiquity; then he, the guest, pleasantly admonished him so that he would not leave him, and promised to make him heir in everything, like his own son. And this guest said: “My dear Russian sailor, my betrothed son, if you please send me a bill of exchange to your father from my estate, only you, my dearest, do not separate from me.” Hearing from him, Vasily, shed a lot of tears and kindly asked to let him go to his father in Russia to take the blessing, and promised to be back to him. Seeing the guest’s reluctant request, he asked him to go to France (and when) to return, and promised to let him go to the house. According to which request he, Vasily, did not disobey this guest, took the ships and got away with the goods, and departed for France. And he was in France for two years, having sold the goods, he returned to Galandia and made this guest a great profit in his journey, that this guest had never seen such a profit and loved him heartily. But only he, Vasily, began to diligently ask his father to go to Russia. And when the guest saw his reluctant request, and at his request, he allowed him to go to Russia. And this guest gave him three ships with different goods and the amount of its treasury is sufficient. And he asked him to return to his father, and let him go with great sadness. And this sailor Vasily Koriotsky, having received the ships and sailor workers and raised the sails, ran to Russian Europe." And after leaving on the ships, this Vasily, taking a thousand ducats, and sewed his caftan into wedges secretly, so that no one knew, for anyone who happened needs. And in the past seven days, as the ships sailed from Galandia, a great and indomitable storm arose, as if the whole sea was flooded, the sand was confused, and the ships were all broken apart. And on which ship Vasily was, and that ship was broken by the waves, and the people all drowned. Only with God's help was Vasily alone washed up on a ship's plank on a certain great island. And from great horror he fell to the ground, as if dead. And when the waves calmed down, the two ships, seeing that the ship on which Vasily was, was completely destroyed, and they hoped that Vasily would drown in the waves of the sea, returning back to Galandia and telling the guest about the misfortunes that had happened. Having heard, the guest began to cry and grieve not about the ships and not about the goods, but about Basil of Koriot, and how he, Vasily, from great horror, lying on the island, he woke up and climbed onto the island, and gave great thanks to God that God carried him to a dry place alive: “Glory to you, Lord God, heavenly king and lover of mankind, for forsaking me, a sinner, for my sins destroy, sink into the waters of the sea." Then, I stand on the island, thinking a lot and looking around this and ovamo, which countries it brought to and which island. Only, although I walked the seas for a long time, I never saw such an island; on this island there was a great and impenetrable forest, and great bogs, and swamps, that there was no way from the sea. And he already really wanted to eat, and although he had chervonets sewn up in wedges in his caftan, there was only nowhere and no one (to buy them), and there was no help for him with them. And walking along the shore for many hours, he looked for a way to get to his home, and although he found a small path into the forest, it was true (?), like human walking, not brutal. And I thought about that, what kind of stitch is that: if you go, you don’t know where you’ll go. And then he thought about it for a long time, and, trusting in the will of God, he followed that stitch into the dark forest thirty miles to the great gulley. It looks like a great, huge courtyard, an area for three, all surrounded by a standing fence. And he came to the court close to the gate, and that gate was tightly locked. And I wanted to look at the yard, but I couldn’t find a well, and I was overcome with fear and was afraid... I thought about the fact that, of course, I had gone to the robbers, and I thought about how to tell him; if you say you are a good person, they will kill you; If you call yourself a robber, then he has never been involved in robberies. And in that yard there was great noise and shouting, and they were playing different games. And he decided to call himself a robber, and began to push hard at the gate. They heard this and soon opened the gate and asked him what kind of man he was and where he was from. Seeing Vasily that the robbers and many of their people were standing, playing various games and music, and drunk, Vasily answered them: “I am the robber of this island, the only one who defeated those floating on the sea.” And these robbers took him and brought him to the chieftain. The chieftain, seeing him, a daring young man, sharp in mind and bright-eyed, beautiful in appearance, and very good in posture, she began to ask him: “Why did I come to you?” Vasily said that “life alone is boring for me. And hearing you living and playing happily on this island, I came to you for this reason. I ask you to accept me as a companion.” And the ataman accepted him, and assigned to the robbers as comrades. The last few days, early in the morning, the captain of their team came running from the sea and announced: “Mr. Ataman, please command a party of young men, and the sea, while merchant galleys with goods are traveling along the sea.” Hearing that, the Ataman shouted: “To the frunt!” Then together After about an hour and a minute, everyone was armed and stood in the fruta. Only the Russian sailor Vasily is the only one standing without a gun, especially since he is not identified. Then the robbers decided to the ataman: “Why is your newly adopted comrade standing without a gun and not in our front? Please order the weapons to be handed over." And the ataman soon ordered him to give out the weapons and stand in front. And this mattress, although I did not want it, but only through fear of taking the weapon, I stood in front. And during the business trip Vasily began to ask the ataman: "Mr. Ataman and All of you, well done comrades, I ask you, please, let me go alone for the loot, since I’m used to breaking one and I want to bring you profit.” Hearing that, the ataman and all the robbers decided: “Let’s let him go alone and see the profits from him.” And on a business trip, the robbers went in three parties, and Vasily was released alone. Then the sailor Vasily reached the sea pier and did not want to break up, but only looked at how he could find a way. And he came to the seashore, looking at this and ovamo, they were not coming or court again, so that he could leave. And he looked, walking along the shore, all day long, but saw no one. And he fell into great sadness, starting to weep and sob bitterly, calling on the Lord God for help, so that God would take him out of the hands of the robbers. And in that thought and great sadness, he fell into a deep sleep on the seashore. And a deep sleep falls, which is already night. And he began to think about how he could show himself that he had not received any booty. And he remembered that he had chervonets sewn into wedges in his caftan, and, ripping open, he took out a hundred chervonets and tied it in a silk scarf. And he came to the ataman and offered him chervonets, and said that “some people were sailing in a small ship and only they had what I present to you.” Seeing the ataman and all the robbers, they began to marvel at him, and yet they praised him. And after that, he was released alone to go robbing twice, and he brought to them two hundred chervonets, which was his booty as an ataman, and all the robbers were terribly amazed that he was happy. At the same time, all the robbers came together and began to think about the Russian sailor, in order to put him in the atamans, having already seen him, a brave young man with a sharp mind. And she all came to the old ataman and began to say to him: “Our lord ataman, please hand over your seniority to our newly adopted comrade, since your management towards us is bad. If you please be with us in the rank and file, and which is our treasury, please hand it over." Then the ataman answered them: "Well done brothers, be according to your will." And all unanimously decided to the Russian sailor Vasily: "Be the ataman for us, if we please accept the entire treasury and command us." Then Vasily answered them: "Well done brothers, please leave me out of this business, since I have never been an ataman. I would be glad to be with you as comrades, but I don’t know the ataman’s administration.” And he began to cry bitterly in front of them. The robbers, seeing him sorely crying, all, like animals, unanimously decided to the Russian sailor Vasily: “If you were our ataman, please let us have our treasury.” accept everything and command us." Vasily answered to them: "Well done brothers, please leave me from such a thing, I have never been an ataman before, I would be glad to be with you as comrades, I don’t know the ataman’s management." And he began to feel bitter in front of them The robbers, seeing him weeping greatly, all, like fierce beasts, unanimously shouted: “If you don’t want to be an ataman, then this very hour we will chop you into pieces!” Seeing, Vasily was greatly afraid, so as not to be from them and really killed, telling them: “Be according to your will, I only ask you: be obedient to me in everything.” Then everyone unanimously decided: “Our lord ataman! We will listen in everything." And the old ataman gave him the keys and led him through the cellars. Having seen Vasily the treasury, a great abundance of gold and silver, and precious stones, and all sorts of precious brocades, as if with the human mind it is impossible to describe all the amounts, and this entire amount accepted. And the robbers gave the keys to Vasily and began to congratulate him: “Hello, our lord ataman, for many years to come!” And they began to drink and have fun about his health, and play all sorts of games. Then they decided to him: “Mr. ataman! Please go with us to a certain closet." And when we arrived at that closet, we gave him the keys to it, immediately deciding to him: "Mr. Ataman! Please accept the keys, but don’t go into that closet without us, and if you start walking around without us, and we tell you, then you won’t live.” Having seen Vasily, this closet is decorated with a lot of paint and gold, and there are windows at the top. this closet, and said to them: “Well done brothers! Please believe that I will not walk without you. And in this I give my promise." And at that time the esaul came running from the sea, and the robbers told him that we have a new ataman. And he, going up to him, bowed and began to congratulate him and say to him: "Mr. Ataman! Please, at this hour, send all the good fellows to prey, since four merchant ships from Landon are sailing across the sea." Then the new chieftain Vasily shouted in a great voice: "Well done, daring ones, to the front! "And all the robbers, with one eye, all stood in front, and Vasily, in front of them, as if he knew magic, took two large locks, tied them to his feet and ran around all the robbers three times, talking weapons to them. Foot to foot He tapped the locks and, walking around them, bowed and put out a barrel of wine, bringing a ladle to everyone. Then all the robbers decided among themselves: “Good, brothers, our chieftain is new, better than the old one! We ourselves know that he speaks strongly with locks and brought a glass of wine to cheer him up. The old ataman was a fool, just as he was in the atamans, not knowing any conspiracies and never letting us drink wine on vacation." And he fell in love with them very much on vacation. And they went to the prey in boldness, in the hope of his conspiracy with the castles they did not have any passion. And as soon as they were ready for the loot, I thought to myself what they had in the closet, and they handed over the entire amount, but they didn’t tell me to go into this closet, even though it had the key. And I thought for a short hour and dared to unlock the closet and open the door. And I saw a very beautiful maiden, dressed in a royal robe of gold, like that beauty in the whole world it is impossible to say, And as Vasily saw, he fell to the ground from her beauty, like Lodvik (Hero of the popular translated story about Alexander and Lodvik), the prince of Rakhli, only not like Lodvik, he burdened himself with love and fell into love. This Vasily, kneeling down, said: “Empress, beautiful maiden, princess! What is your family and how were you taken by these robbers?” And the maiden answered: “If you please, dear sir, listen, I will tell you. I eat for the royal family, the daughter of the great King of Florence. And my name is Heraclius. Only my father had only one daughter. And already two years old, they came by sea to our states and Europe with ships from Russian merchants, and at that time I was walking With girls in boats and looking at Russian goods and all sorts of wonders. And as we sailed away from the ships on boats, then these the robbers came running in the boats, and all our rowers were beaten, and the girls were thrown into the sea. I was the only one who was taken to this island and kept to this day because there is a great quarrel between the name: one wants to take it for himself, but the other does not give it. And after that argument they want to chop me up. And I wept bitterly in front of him." And she began to ask him: "I beg you, my sir, what is your last name, from which state did you come here? I haven’t seen you with them, the robbers, until now, and I see you, not their command, but I recognize you to be some kind of gentleman.” Then Vasily began to tell her about himself: “Please know, Empress Princess, that I am Russian Europe, sent for science to Galandny. And so he was honored by the Galan merchant, from whom he went with goods to England and France on ships, and from there he returned, and made a great profit for him; he was honored in place of his own son. Then I asked this guest to go to my father’s house. Due to some request, he was fired, V Three ships with goods were given to me, and so that, when I was with my father, I could return back to Galand. And after leaving Galandni, it was safe for seven days at sea, and then a great storm came and the ships were all broken, and I alone was brought to this island on a ship’s plank. In which I found robbers and was delivered from the evil ataman, which I did not want, I convey to you, if you please believe: if God takes me away from them, then I will not leave you. I just ask you not to tell them that I was with you." The princess, hearing from him, fell to her knees and began kissing him kindly, asking him not to leave her when he went. Vasily promised with an oath not to leave, and locked closet, and departed in great sadness. Then the robbers arrived from the booty, and he met them according to the ataman’s custom, and everyone bowed to him in a cheerful manner and announced that with his happiness three ships and seven Italian galleys were defeated and a great sum of treasury and goods were received. And the nets and threads began in great joy, that through his priestly conspiracy the great ones received profits. Then the rent was given to him: “Our lord ataman, please order good dishes to be put on the dishes and take the keys to the reserved closet. " They came, and unlocked it, and saw the princess, and led him to the robbers, and ordered the food to be placed on the restroom table, and he spat and went to his chambers. Bidet the robbers, that he did not even look at the princess, and decided to himself: “Are you lying, good brothers, what our chieftain, that the female sex does not want to look; not like our former chieftain - he lost all his eyes. And you can trust our new chieftain in everything." And from that time on, they began to believe most of all. And how he did not let them go to booty, and during his vacations there were great profits. And he released them to the towns of Portugal and other lands. And with his happiness everywhere they arrived without loss and with a great profit. And no matter how he let them go, he always went to the princess, and thought about how to get away from them. At the same time, Vasily began to tell all the robbers to sew great bags separately to sort out the gold and silver and precious pour stones into bags. And on his order they sewed up a lot of bags, and began to take everything apart separately and pour it into bags. And when they had sorted everything out, the ataman said to them: “Well done brothers! Bring me a horse, and I’ll ride around the island and take a walk." They immediately brought the horse to him and saddled it with drag. Vasily rode all day around this island, but only around the sea, and there was no dry path. And seeing one side - the fishermen pester. He asks them which state is from which. They told him that from the Tsar's state (from Austria. ). “And we come here to sell fish to the living robbers on this island.” And they didn’t know that their chieftain. He said to them: “Well done brothers! Stay here for two days, and I will give you a great payment. Take me to the Tsar’s postal boats.” They promised to wait. Then Ataman Vasily came to the robbers in great joy. They immediately gave him a horse and brought him with honor to the upper room, and everyone began to drink and have fun. And as the night passed, Vasily immediately ordered everyone to gather in front. As soon as everyone gathered together, he began to speak to them: “Well done brothers! Yesterday I saw ships sailing at sea, seven ships from Portugal. If you please, chase after them, but I recognize that they are merchants.” And they all immediately set off in boats. The sailor Vasily immediately took two horses and “collected the dissolutions (Carts (or sleighs).) and having filled the bag with gold and silver and precious stones, it was very powerful for two horses to carry it. And he came to the princess and took her with him. Immediately they went to the sea, where the king's fishermen were. And they got into their ship with the princess and the gold and the silver was taken, and the horses were left on the shore, and on the strokes of the sea to the pier, from which the pier to Tsesaria the guard boats run. And at that time the robbers soon returned to their court and, not having found the chieftain, also the princess, immediately rushed to the sea to the pier where the fishermen landed. And seeing the horses and the disbands, they immediately set off in pursuit in small ships. And the fishermen are already rowing so far out to sea that it’s hard for a person to see through a snorkel. The robbers have already begun to catch up and shout in a great voice: “Stop, hand over these people, if you don’t hand us over, we won’t let you in alive!” The fishermen were afraid and wanted to return to them). Vasily, taking out his sword, pushed one into the sea, and said to the others: “If you return, I will beat you all and throw you into the sea!” They were afraid and began to row very hard along the sea. And by their happiness, the diarrhea (Tailing) wind rose, and they raised small sails and floated out of sight. But robbers have no sails. And so the robbers returned in great sorrow. Then the fishermen sailed with the Russian sailor and the queen to the postal pier. Then Vasily got out of the ship and selected all the estates, and gave those fishermen a single bag of gold. And they, the fishermen, were great for the sake of that treasury and promised not to catch fish in the sea and not to go to that robber island. And Vasily hired a postal ship to Caesarea, into which he and Queen Irakleia boarded, and went by sea to Caesarea. And they arrived in Caesarea safely, and paid the money for the rental according to the contract. (In Caesarea, Vasily was received with great glory by the Caesar, who called him brother. The admiral of the Floren state, who arrived in search of Irakli, deceives the princess, and orders Vasily to be drowned, but are grateful to the Russian sailor for his generosity. The Florenian officers put Vasily in the boat. Having learned about the admiral’s treachery and After the imaginary death of Vasily, the Tsar sends troops to the State of Florence led by General Flegont. Vasily is washed up in a boat on a small island, from where an old fisherman transports him to the State of Florence, where Vasily is hired to chop wood and carry water in an almshouse from an old woman. The Admiral is under threat of death forced Irakliya to swear that she would tell her father and mother, allegedly he “took her from Caesarea in battle.”) After three months, when Vasily came to Florence, the Admiral of Florence arrived and with the beautiful Irakliya to the pier. shoot, and beat drums, and play all sorts of games.Then the king of Florenskaya learned that the admiral had brought his daughter, the beautiful princess Iraklia. He and his queen immediately went to the pier, and seeing my daughter her own, she began to cry bitterly out of joy. But the princess forcibly came out of sadness and did not talk about anything, her face was darkened. Having seen the father her and her mother began to cry bitterly and say: “Our Empress, dear daughter, beautiful princess! Or are you unwell because you look very sad?” She, sighing pitifully, began to cry, and said: “My lord, father and empress, mother! Now I see you, my heart rejoiced little from the sadness that has taken possession of my heart.” And the king and princess went to the palace. And the admiral began to rejoice in great joy, and the princess was very sad and in a black dress. Then the admiral announced to the king: “I took the princess by storm.” And the admiral asked the royal majesty that she was promised to give him as a wife, for which he was given his promise. And he soon ordered him to prepare for the next day. And he promised to give his daughter, the beautiful princess Irakli, and he would not change his royal favour. And as morning and day dawned, the admiral was completely prepared for a legal marriage and, coming to the king, began to ask. The king ordered him to go to the pickaxe, and ordered the beautiful princess to be dressed in a precious royal dress. And the admiral went with all the decorations to the pickaxe. And the king came to Princess Heraclius and said: “My beloved daughter, beautiful Princess Heraclius! Please get out, it’s time for a legal marriage.” Hearing the princess from her father, she began to cry bitterly and fell at his feet and said: “My dear sir, father! I ask your sovereign and parental mercy, perhaps, do not give me as a wife to this admiral.” When her father heard her, he said: “Don’t let me talk about this anymore, for I gave my password to this admiral to give you to him as a wife, and I don’t want to leave my password, please get out and go to the kirk!” And seeing the princess that there was no way she could talk her way out of it, she burst into tears and, sighing, said: “Why should I get away when I don’t have one: if I had one, then I would be happy.” Having heard her father and her mother, she began to wonder and ask her: “Tell us, our dearest daughter, the beautiful princess of Heraclius.” The princess, in her great sadness, did not answer, but went to the prepared chamber, and went out, and fell into the carriage in a black dress, and they went to the pickaxe. And how they began to drive up near that almshouse, where the Russian sailor Vasily, took a harp, began to play plaintively and sing an aria: ... Oh, dearest, dearest of the whole world, how you remain, And you don’t expect to see your dearest friend in the world alive. Remember, as you drag, how I was able to free you from the vile hands of robbers, And this evil destroyer ordered me to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Oh, beautiful flower, now you are fading from my eyes, you are placing me alone in this sadness in the grave, or are you forgetting your former love, and do you want to be the wife of this evil destroyer? Just as I declare this aria of mine, I announce this aria to you, And I sing to my dearest: Even if you remain in your fatherland with your mother, I ask my faithful one not to forget your services... Having heard the princess playing the harp and singing the aria to her , immediately ordered the carriage and realized that her faithful friend Vasily was alive, ordered to ask who was playing. The page came and said that a certain gentleman was playing. The princess immediately got up from the carriage and wanted to see who was playing. And when she saw that her friend Vasily Ivanovich was dear, she came and grabbed him, began to cry bitterly and kiss him on the mouth. And she took him by the hand and put him in the carriage, and ordered him to turn and go to the palace. Seeing this, all the ministers began to marvel at what misfortune was, everyone was in great wonder. And when they arrived at the palace, then the princess took Vasily by the hand, led the Russian sailor Vasily to her father and mother and said: “My sovereign father and empress mother! What I did not want to see before my death, this one has now appeared with my own eyes.” And he began to tell them everything in detail, how he delivered her from the robbers, and how in Caesarea he was called his own brother by the Caesar, and how the admiral took her away from Caesarea, and beat him, ordered him to be thrown into the sea, and beat the Caesar’s ministers and drabants: “ For which, please, expect strength from the Tsar soon for the insolence of our admiral." When the king and queen heard this, they were in great horror. And all the gentlemen began to say that Florence should not be ruined. Immediately he sent the chamberlain to the pickaxe and ordered the admiral to be arrested. The Kamorger was arrested. Then the princess, with beauty like the sun, took off her black robe and put on a precious dress. And be in great joy. After three days, the Caesar's general Phlegont arrived from Caesarea with the Caesar's army to the Florentine state and ordered the cannons and drums to be continuously fired. And General Flegont himself, taking the letter sent from the Caesar, went to King Florensky. And as soon as he arrived, he announced to the king that he ordered his admiral, who was in Caesarea, and the Caesar’s brother Vasily, to invite him to his ships with the generals and the emperor’s ministers. rescued from robbers by the crown prince's brother Vasily. And for these admiral’s indecencies, in order to inflict tyrannical torment in front of the Caesar’s army: skin him alive. The king of Florenskaya made a speech to the Caesar’s general Flegont that Vasily Ivanovich was alive in his kingdom. And let's take him by the hand. Seeing Flegont Vasily and the princess, he bowed to his emperor and rejoiced at that. Vasily ordered the admiral to be taken out before the Caesar’s army and skinned alive. And King Florenskoy and Vasily Dasha gave great gifts to the Caesar’s general and salaries to the entire Caesar’s army... Between 1703 and 1726
NOTES
Gazette. The first printed Russian newspaper was created by decree of Peter I, signed on December 15, 1702. The newspaper was supposed to “be sold to the world at the proper price.” The purpose of publishing “Vedomosti” is to “notify Russian people about foreign and domestic incidents,” to promote the military, cultural and economic undertakings of Peter, and the successes of the transformed Russian state. Apparently, it was originally intended to call the newspaper "Vedomosti of the Moscow State", but the vast majority of issues are titled "Vedomosti"; in some cases, the newspaper was published without a name at all or with a slightly changed one: “Moskovskie Vedomosti” (for example, No. 22 for 1704), “Moskovskaya Vedomosti”. Sometimes individual issues of the newspaper had special headings, for example: “Journal, or daily list, which was carried out during the recent siege near the Noteburkh fortress on September 26, 1702” (issue dated December 27, 1702). The first two issues of the Gazette - dated December 17 and 27, 1702 - have not yet been discovered in printed form and are known from handwritten copies; printed copies of the newspaper have survived since the issue dated January 2, 1703. Until 1715, Vedomosti was printed at the Printing Yard in Moscow, from May 11 of this year until 1719 - in Moscow and St. Petersburg (sometimes materials from Moscow and St. Petersburg Vedomosti " coincide, sometimes differ from each other), since 1719 - in St. Petersburg (separate issues were also published in Moscow). The first editor of Vedomosti was the translator and poet Fyodor Polikarpov. In 1727, the publication of the newspaper became the responsibility of the Academy of Sciences; Subsequently, it received the name “St. Petersburg Gazette” and was published under this title throughout the 18th century. The examples of how compliments are written are different. Translated from German by M. P. Shafirov (1681 - after 1725?), the book “Examples of how different compliments are written, that is, writings from potentates to potentates, congratulatory and regretful and others, also between relatives and friends” is the first letter book in Russian, containing samples ("butts") of letters different types and content. Printed in 1708, republished with additions in 1708, 1712, 1718. and with new additions in 1725. An honest mirror of youth. The book “An Honest Mirror of Youth, or Indications for Everyday Conduct, Collected from Various Authors,” written by order of Peter, is one of the most striking examples of so-called “applied” literature, which, due to the characteristics of the era, was very popular in the first decades of the 18th century. Promoting new morality, new forms of relations between people, this kind of literature contributed to the formation of a new way of life. The book “An Honest Mirror of Youth”, being basically a combination of the rules of etiquette (behavior in society and family) with a moral and ethical code, at the same time contained elements of journalism, and unique genre fiction pictures, and moralizing and satirical paragraphs. First printed in 1717, reprinted in 1717, 1719, 1723, 1737, 1742, 1745, 1767. The story of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky and the beautiful princess Irakli of the Florensky land. The exact time of creation is unknown; the dating of the story is determined by the realities contained in the text: the mention of St. Petersburg and Kronstadt indicates that the work could not have been written before 1703; In 1726, silver coins “efimki” - foreign Joachimsthalers, which had long been minted into Russian coins - were finally withdrawn from circulation in Russia. Like all other stories of the Peter the Great era, the history of Vasily Koriotsky was not published and was distributed in handwritten form. First published in 1878
