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RUSSIAN LITERATURE

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 916 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RUSSIAN LITERATURE . To get a clear See also:idea of Russian literature, it will be most convenient for us to See also:divide it into oral and written. The first of these sections includes the interesting byliny, or " tales of old See also:time," as the word may be translated, which have come down to us in See also:great See also:numbers, as they have been sung by wandering minstrels all over the See also:country. The scholars who have given their See also:attention to these compositions have made the following See also:division of them into cycles: (I) that of the older heroes; (2) that of See also:Vladimir, See also:prince of See also:Kiev; (3) that of See also:Novgorod; (4) that of See also:Moscow; (5) that of the See also:Cossacks; (6) that of See also:Peter the Great; (7) the See also:modern See also:period. These poems, if they may be so sonsan~t styled, are not in See also:rhyme; the See also:ear is satisfied with ~ a certain See also:cadence which is observed throughout. For a See also:long time they were neglected, and the collection of them began only towards the conclusion of the 17th See also:century. The See also:style of Russian literature which prevailed from the time of See also:Lomonosov was wholly based upon the See also:French or pseudo-classical school. It was, therefore, hardly likely that these See also:peasant songs would attract attention. But when the See also:gospel of romanticism was preached and the See also:History of See also:Karamzin appeared, a new impulse was given to the collection of all the remains of popular literature. In 1804 appeared a See also:volume based upon those which had been gathered together by See also:Cyril or Kirsha. Danilov, a Cossack, at the beginning of the 18th century. They were received with much See also:enthusiasm, and a second edition was published in 1818.

In the following See also:

year there appeared at See also:Leipzig a See also:translation of many of these pieces into See also:German, in consequence of which they became known much more widely. This little See also:book of 16o pages is important because the originals of some of the byliny translated in it are now lost. Since that time large collections of these poems have been published, edited by Rybnikov,Hilferding,Sreznevskiy, See also:Avenarius and others. These curious productions have all the characteristics of popular See also:poetry in the endless repetitions of certain conventional phrases—the " See also:green See also:wine," " the See also:bright See also:sun " (applied to a See also:hero), " the See also:damp See also:earth " and others. The heroes of the first See also:cycle are monstrous beings, and seem to be merely impersonifications of the See also:powers of nature; such are See also:Volga Vseslavich, Mikula Selianinovich and Sviatogor. They are called the bogatyri starshie. Sometimes we have the giants of the See also:mountain, as Sviatogor, and the See also:serpent Gorinich, the See also:root of See also:part of both names being gora (mountain). The serpent Gorinich lives in caves, and has the care of the See also:precious metals. Sometimes See also:animal natures are mixed up with them, as zmei-bogatyr, who unites the qualities of the serpent and the See also:giant, and bears the name of Tugarin Zmievich. There is the See also:Pagan Idol (Idolistche Poganskoe), a great See also:glutton, and See also:Nightingale the Robber (Solovey Razboinik), who terrifies travellers and lives in a See also:nest built upon six oaks. In the second cycle the legends See also:group themselves See also:round the celebrated Prince Vladimir of Kiev. The See also:chief hero is Ilya Muromets, who performs prodigies of valour, and is of gigantic stature and superhuman strength.

The cycle of Novgorod deals with the stories of Vasilii Buslaevich and Sadko, the See also:

rich See also:merchant. The See also:fourth cycle deals with the See also:autocracy; already Moscow has become the See also:capital of the future See also:empire. We are told of the taking of Kazan, of the. See also:conquest of See also:Siberia by Yermak, of See also:Ivan the Terrible and his confidant Maliuta Skurlatovich. It is observable that in the popular tradition Ivan is not spoken of with any hatred. As See also:early as 1619 some of these byliny were committed to See also:writing by See also:Richard See also:James, an See also:Oxford See also:graduate who was in See also:Russia as See also:chaplain of the See also:embassy. The most pathetic is that See also:relating to the unfortunate See also:Xenia, the daughter of Boris Godunov. Yermak, the conqueror of Siberia, forms the subject of a very spirited See also:lay, and there is another on the See also:death of Ivan the Terrible. Considering the relation in which she stood to the Russians, we cannot wonder that Marina, the wife of the false See also:Demetrius, appears as a magician. Many spirited poems are consecrated to the achievements of Stenka See also:Razin, the bold robber of the Volga, who was for a long time a popular hero. The cycle of Peter the Great is a very interesting one. We have songs in abundance on the achievements of the See also:tsar, as the taking of See also:Azov in 1696. There is also a poem on the See also:execution of the streltsy, and another on the death of Peter.

In the more modern period there are many songs on See also:

Napoleon. The Cossack songs, written in the Little Russian See also:language, dwell upon the glories of the sech, the sufferings of the See also:people from the invasions of the See also:Turks and See also:Mongols, the exploits of the Haidamaks and, lastly, the fall of the Cossack See also:republic. Besides these, the Russians can boast of large collections of religious poems, many of them containing very curious legends. In them we have a See also:complete See also:store of the beliefs of the See also:Middle Ages. A rich See also:field may be found here for the study of See also:comparative See also:mythology and folk-See also:lore. Many of them are of considerable antiquity, and some seem to have been derived from the See also:Midrash. Some of the more important of these have been collected by Beszonov. Besides the byliny or legendary poems, the Russians have large collections of skazki or folk-tales, which have been gathered together by Sakharov, Afanasiev and others. They also are full of valuable materials for the study of comparative mythology. Leaving the popular and oral literature, we come to what has been committed to writing. The earliest specimen of Earliest Russian, properly so called, must be considered the written Ostromir Codex, written by the diak See also:Gregory at the literature. See also:order of Ostromir, the posadnik or See also:governor of Novgorod. This is a Russian recension of the See also:Slavonic Gospels, of the date 106-57.

Phoenix-squares

Of the year 1073 we have the Izbornik or " See also:

Miscellany " of Sviatoslay. It was written by See also:John the diak or See also:deacon for that prince, and is a See also:kind of Russian See also:encyclopaedia, See also:drawn from See also:Greek See also:sources. The date is 1076. The style is praised by See also:Buslaev as clear and See also:simple. The next See also:monument of the language is the Discourse concerning the Old and New Testament, by See also:Hilarion, See also:metropolitan of Kiev. In this See also:work there is a See also:panegyric on Prince Vladimir of Kiev, the hero of so much of the Russian popular poetry. Other writers are See also:Theodosius, a See also:monk of the Pestcherskiy See also:cloister, who wrote on the Latin faith and some Pouchenia or " Instructions, " and See also:Luke Zhidiata, See also:bishop of Novgorod, who has See also:left us a curious Discourse to the Brethren. From the writings of Theodosius we see that many pagan habits were still in See also:vogue among the people. He finds See also:fault with them for allowing these to continue, and also for their See also:drunkenness; nor do the monks See also:escape his censures. Zhidiata writes in a more See also:vernacular style than many of his contemporaries; he eschews the declamatory See also:tone of • the See also:Byzantine authors. With the so-called See also:Chronicle of See also:Nestor (q.v.) begins the long See also:series of the Russian See also:annalists. There is a See also:regular catena of these See also:chronicles, extending with only two breaks Annalists to the time of See also:Alexis Mikhailovich, the See also:father of Peter and the Great.

Besides the work attributed to Nestor, travellers. we have chronicles of Novgorod, Kiev, See also:

Volhynia and many others. Every See also:town of any importance could boast of its annalists, See also:Pskov and Suzdal among others. In some respects these compilations, the productions of monks in their cloisters, remind us of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, dry details alternating with here and there a picturesque incident; and many of these See also:annals abound with the quaintest stories. There are also See also:works of early travellers, as the igumen See also:Daniel, who visited the See also:Holy See also:Land at the end of the rlth and beginning of the 12th century. A later traveller was See also:Athanasius See also:Nikitin, a merchant of See also:Tver, who visited See also:India in 1470. He has left a See also:record of his adventures, which has been translated into See also:English and published for the See also:Hakluyt Society. Later also is the See also:account written by the two merchants, Korobeinikov and Grekov. They were sent with a sum of See also:money to the Holy See also:Sepulchre to entreat the monks to pray without ceasing for the soul of the son of Ivan the Terrible, whom his father had killed. A curious monument of old Slavonic times is the Pouchenie (" Instruction "), written by Vladimir Monomakh for the benefit of his sons. This See also:composition is generally found inserted in the Chronicle of Nestor; it gives a See also:quaint picture of the daily See also:life of a Slavonic prince. In the 12th century we have the sermons of Cyril, the bishop of Turov, which are attempts to imitate in Russian the florid Byzantine style. In his See also:sermon on Holy See also:Week, See also:Christianity is represented under the See also:form of See also:spring, Re/Iglous Itterature.

Paganism and Judaism under that of See also:

winter, and evil thoughts are spoken of as boisterous winds. And here may be mentioned the many lives of the See also:saints and the Fathers to be found in early Russian literature. Some of these have been edited by See also:Count See also:Bezborodko in his Pametniki Starinnoy Russkoy Literatury (" Memorials of See also:Ancient Russian Literature "). We now come to the See also:story of the expedition of Prince Igor, which is a kind of bylina in See also:prose, and narrates the expedition of Igor, prince of Novgorod-Severskiy, against the Polovtzes. The See also:manuscript was at one time preserved The Story of Igor in a monastery at See also:Yaroslavl, but was burnt in the great See also:fire at Moscow in the year 1812. Luckily the story had been edited (after a See also:fashion) by Count Musin-See also:Pushkin, and a transcript was also found among the papers of the empress See also:Catherine. The See also:original was seen by several men of letters in Russia, Karamzin among the number. There is a mixture of See also:Christian and See also:heathen allusions, but there are See also:parallels to this style of writing in such a piece as the " Discourse of a See also:Lover of See also:Christ and See also:Advocate of the True Faith, " from which an See also:extract has been given by Buslaev in his Chrestomathy. There is a great See also:deal of poetical spirit in the story of Igor, and the metaphors are frequently very vigorous. Mention is made in it of another See also:bard named Boyan, but none of his inspirations have come down to us. A See also:strange See also:legend is that of the tsar See also:Solomon and Kitovras, but the story occurs in the popular literatures other of many countries. Some similar productions among the Popular Russians are merely adaptations of old Bulgarian tales, tales. especially the so-called apocryphal writings.

The Zadonstchina is a sort of prose poem much in the style of the "Story of Igor, " and the resemblance of the latter to this piece and to many other of the skazania included in or attached to the Russian chronicle, furnishes an additional See also:

proof of its genuineness. The account of the See also:battle of the " Field of Woodcocks, " which was gained by Dmitri Donskoy over the Mongols in 1380, has come down in three important versions. The first bears the See also:title " Story of the Fight of the Prince Dmitri Ivanovich with Mamai "; it is rather meagre in details but full of expressions showing the patriotism of the writer.

End of Article: RUSSIAN LITERATURE

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